Tailings & Water Engineer

Tailings Engineer – Weipa Operations (Tailings & Water)

• Global mining company with a world-class reputation for safety and performance
• Advance your career in a dynamic, supportive team environment
• Permanent employment which includes a huge range of additional benefits including medical benefits, healthy lifestyle package and share ownership plan
   

About the role
 

Finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs.
 

About the Role
 

Reporting to the Tailings and Water Superintendent (Weipa), the Tailings Engineer is an operational role that provides strategy and support to the Tailings and Water team. The role will be accountable for operational management of tailing and water dams’ systems across site, including;

• Adherence to the Rio Tinto D5 tailings management standard
• Performance and KPI monitoring of each facility (Weipa have 14 facilities in total which are in all stages of the lifecycle)
• Management of tailing operations (including deposition planning and Mud farming)
• Coordination between the operations and the capital construction activities (annual upstream TSF wall raises)
• Development and compliance with the life of operations plans
• Closure planning
• Update and management of facility and site portfolio risk registers
• Input into the 5 year capital forecast and internal operations budgeting
• Assist with tailings planning for the upcoming expansion TSF for Weipa Operations.
• Instrumentation monitoring and maintenance planning/installs
   

The role requires strong technical capability with regards to tailings dam operations, water management and the ability to lead continuous improvement in operations. This role will fill the position of Qualified Site Representative (Rio Tinto D5 standard) with potential career progression towards the Responsible dams engineer for Weipa Operations.
 

Responsibilities

• Assist in management of day-to-day operations of all tailings and water storage facilities;
• Ensure facilities are operated in accordance with design intent;
• Provide incident investigation and management advice;
• Review performance and KPI monitoring of water and tailings assets, including dissemination of data to stakeholders;  
• Update and manage facility and portfolio risk registers for tailings dams and water dams;
• Undertake budgeting and invoicing for operational activities and minor capital projects;
• Provide technical advice regarding tailings and water storage facilities;
• Ensure assets are operated in accordance with relevant standards (Rio Tinto D5, GISTM and ANCOLD);
• Interface between site operational team and Engineering consultants;
• Maintenance of technical documentation (Operational, Maintenance and Surveillance manuals, Emergency Response Plans, Trigger Actions Response Plans, Incident Investigation reports)
   

What You’ll Bring
 

To be successfully considered for this role, you will have:

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering (appropriate specialisation such as Geotechnical, Civil, Process or Chemical);
• Experience in Tailings Management or mining process engineering.
• Demonstrated experience in project management of small contractor teams and consultants.
• Strong MS Office skills, specifically in Excel and MS Project.

It will also be beneficial if you have:

• Frontline leadership experience
• Experience in Geotechnical Monitoring
• Experience with GoldSim
• Experience with Muck3D
• CAD experience
• Experience with Geoexplorer
• Experience with geotechnical instrumentation monitoring
• Microsoft database management and excel programming

What we offer 

• Domestic relocation if required
• Weipa accommodation benefit 
• Remote area allowance 
• Remote area holiday travel assistance 
• Be recognized for your contribution, your thinking and your hard work, and go home knowing you’ve helped the world progress.
• A work environment where safety is always the number one priority 
• A permanent position working directly for Rio Tinto 
• A competitive base salary reflective of your skills and experience with annual incentive program 
• Comprehensive medical benefits including subsidised private health insurance for employees and immediate family 
• Attractive share ownership plan 
• Company provided insurance cover 
• Extensive salary sacrifice & salary packaging options 
• Career development & education assistance to further your technical or leadership ambitions 
• Ongoing access to family-friendly health and medical wellbeing support 
• Leave for all of life’s reasons (vacation/annual, paid parental, sick leave, cultural leave)
• To better suit different family needs, our paid parental leave approach gives all parents the option to take 18 weeks of paid leave after a new child arrives – at a time that suits them
• Exclusive employee discounts including hotel stays, banking, accommodation, cars, retail and more
   

About our Weipa Operations
 

Our Weipa Operations includes three bauxite mines, processing facilities, ship loaders, an export wharf, two ports, power stations, a rail network and ferry terminals. Located on the Western Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, each year the operation produces more than 35 million tons of bauxite. 
 

Our operations are supported by a 1,900-strong workforce—including 26 per cent who are women and 25 per cent Indigenous employees. Activities include mine operations, maintenance, asset management, ports, cultural heritage management, and processing facility management. 
 

The development of our new mine, Amrun, which was completed in 2018, will extend the life of our Weipa bauxite operations by decades to come and significantly build on our 55-year history on the Western Cape

About Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is a leading global mining and materials company. We operate in 35 countries where we produce iron ore, copper, aluminium, critical minerals, and other materials needed for the global energy transition and for people, communities, and nations to thrive.

We have been mining for 150 years and operate with knowledge built up across generations and continents. Our purpose is finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs – striving for innovation and continuous improvement to produce materials with low emissions and to the right environmental, social and governance standards. But we can’t do it on our own, so we’re focused on creating partnerships to solve problems, create win-win situations and meet opportunities.

Every Voice Matters

At Rio Tinto, we particularly welcome and encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women, the LGBTI+ community, mature workers, people with disabilities and people from different cultural backgrounds.

We are committed to an inclusive environment where people feel comfortable to be themselves. We want our people to feel that all voices are heard, all cultures respected and that a variety of perspectives are not only welcome – they are essential to our success. We treat each other fairly and with dignity regardless of race, gender, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, age, sexual orientation or anything else that makes us different.

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