Hydrogeologist | WAIO | FIFO

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About the Role

Reporting to the Superintendent Northern Central Pilbara Hydrogeology, this is a critical, operations-facing role.

You will be responsible for developing and maintaining effective mine water management plans (dewatering and surplus management) that cover the 12 week to 2 year planning horizon that integrate with the mine plan.

The position is at BHPs Mining Area C iron ore mine which is in a period of significant expansion of dewatering and surplus water management requirements and infrastructure. The successful development and execution of water management plans is critical to the success of the mining operations.

You will work closely with operational teams and hydrogeologists in the Water Planning team to translate your plans into executable work, and then track dewatering and surplus water system performance, and compliance-to-plan.

As a member of the Water Planning team, you will play a key role in developing world-class water management practices that align with BHP's stewardship position.

This role is site based on a 5/2 (Friday in Perth), 4/3 roster.

In this role you will:

• Develop effective relationships to support timely delivery of water infrastructure projects
• Represent and clearly communicate water risks to the mine plan at weekly meetings and in site leadership forums
• Develop and maintain effective Mine Dewatering and Surplus Water Management Plans
• Design drilling programs for dewatering borefields in the tactical (<2 years) and strategic (2-5 years) timelines
• Review the Tactical and Strategic Mine Plans and use these to develop operational dewatering targets, workload forecasts, and infrastructure and budget requirements
• Support the update of detailed hydrogeological conceptual model reports and use this as the basis for dewatering system design
• Embed and measure dewatering compliance-to-plan metrics and develop improvement strategies where required to achieve water level targets
• Ensure that dewatering infrastructure is integrated into the 12 week mine schedule, pit designs and blast masters to maintain required system availability and utilisation and minimise interactions with mining operations
• Embed good operational water management practices with new operational teams, drawing on best practice from across other BHP sites
• Conduct ongoing performance review and optimisation of dewatering and surplus water management infrastructure - including dewatering and injection bores, and pipeline hydraulics

The successful candidate will ideally possess the following skills and experience:

• A tertiary qualification in Hydrogeology, Geoscience, Engineering or Environmental Science, with post graduate study/qualifications in Hydrogeology (or related discipline) highly regarded.
• Experience in Pilbara hydrogeology and operational dewatering, would be highly regarded.
• Excellent hydrogeological skills, with the ability to quickly grasp technical problems and business requirements, and design appropriate work programs.
• Relevant applied experience in hydrogeology and mine water management.
• Exceptional interpersonal and teamwork skills, with the ability to influence without authority across multiple stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to clearly and concisely communicate technical concepts and business risks to non-technical and leadership audiences.
• The passion, determination and energy to inspire those around you and help make BHP a World Leader in Mine Water Management.