Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Lead Miner

🎯 Role Definition

The Lead Miner is a frontline operations leader responsible for supervising daily mining activities, delivering production and quality targets, enforcing safety and environmental standards, and coordinating cross-functional teams (maintenance, geology, engineering, and contractors). This role requires a hands-on leader who combines technical mining knowledge, operational planning, crew management and regulatory compliance to optimize ore recovery, control costs and maintain reliable, safe operations across shifts.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Experienced Underground Miner or Open Pit Miner with demonstrated supervisory skills and technical certifications.
Blaster/Driller or Crew Leader with 3–5 years of operational experience.
Maintenance Technician or Heavy Equipment Operator transitioning into operational leadership.

Advancement To:

Shift Supervisor / Mine Captain
Mine Superintendent
Senior Operations Manager / Site Operations Manager

Lateral Moves:

Drill & Blast Supervisor
Geotechnical or Ground Control Technician
Mining Planner or Scheduler

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead and supervise daily mine face and development crews, assigning tasks, monitoring productivity and maintaining continuous communication to ensure production targets and shift KPIs are met while minimizing downtime.
Plan, coordinate and execute drilling and blasting activities in accordance with design plans, fragmentation targets and blast safety regulations; liaise with blast engineers to optimize fragmentation, reduce dilution and improve ore recovery.
Develop and implement detailed short-term mining plans and shift work schedules based on mine plans, geologic data and production forecasts to ensure consistent feed to process plants and adherence to tonnage targets.
Oversee ground control and roof support activities including bolting, shotcreting, scaling and monitoring of rock mass conditions to mitigate instability risks and ensure worker safety in underground workings or highwall stability in open pit operations.
Conduct operational risk assessments, pre-shift safety briefings and hazard inspections; enforce permit-to-work systems, safe work procedures and corrective actions following near misses or incidents.
Manage and mentor multi-skilled crews, provide on-the-job training, conduct performance reviews, coach for safety and productivity improvements and build a high-performance, safety-first culture.
Coordinate maintenance windows, breakdown response and preventive maintenance activities with the maintenance team to maximize equipment availability, reduce unplanned downtime and track MTBF/MTTR metrics.
Direct contractor selection, onboarding and performance management for outsourced drilling, blasting, haulage or specialist services to ensure contractual obligations, safety standards and cost control are met.
Monitor daily production, grade and quality metrics; collaborate with geology and processing to ensure ore/waste control, update face mapping, and report variance analyses to site management.
Manage mine ventilation and gas monitoring programs (where applicable), implementing ventilation adjustments and corrective actions to maintain air quality, temperature and regulatory compliance.
Approve and control the issuance, storage and use of explosives and detonators in accordance with explosives safety regulations, company policy and site-specific authorization procedures.
Drive continuous improvement and cost reduction initiatives—including cycle time analysis, fleet utilization, load-and-haul optimization and material handling improvements—to increase productivity and lower operating costs.
Maintain accurate production, safety and equipment logs, prepare daily and weekly operational reports, and present performance, issues and improvement plans to senior management.
Implement and enforce environmental controls such as sediment and erosion management, water management, dust suppression and rehabilitation activities to ensure permit compliance and minimize environmental impact.
Participate in mine planning consultations with mine planners and geologists to translate long-term mine designs into practical, safe short-term production blocks and development sequences.
Investigate incidents and near misses, conduct root cause analysis, recommend corrective and preventative actions and ensure timely implementation and closure of safety improvements.
Oversee material handling, stockpile management and grade control practices to reduce ore losses, prevent contamination and optimize mill feed quality and consistency.
Ensure compliance with local mining regulations, permits, union agreements and reporting requirements; coordinate inspections with regulators and respond to audit findings with corrective action plans.
Implement digital mining tools and systems (e.g., fleet management, telematics, production tracking and electronic shift handovers) to improve data accuracy, real-time decision-making and operational transparency.
Coordinate emergency response, rescue team readiness and mine evacuation drills; maintain rescue equipment readiness and ensure crew competence in emergency procedures.
Manage shift handovers and communications with other shifts, ensuring continuity of operations, clear status documentation, and follow-through on outstanding actions.
Control operational budgets for the assigned area, track labor hours, consumables and operational expenditure, and identify opportunities to reduce cost while maintaining safety and production requirements.
Supervise blasting matting, bench scaling and ground remediation activities to ensure contractor compliance and public/worker safety where mining interfaces with public or site infrastructure.
Establish and enforce quality control measures for sampling, face mapping and grade reconciliation to support accurate reconciliation and geological model updates.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proven expertise in mine operations (underground and/or open pit), production drilling & blasting and load-and-haul cycle management.
Strong knowledge of mine planning and scheduling processes; ability to interpret long-term mine plans, short-term schedules and block models.
Experience with mining software such as Deswik, Surpac, Vulcan, MineSight, Minemax or similar for planning, grade control and reconciliation.
Competence with fleet management and telematics systems (e.g., Caterpillar MineStar, Modular Mining, Wenco) and experience using data to optimize haulage and equipment utilization.
Ground control and geotechnical awareness: rock mass classification, bolting patterns, shotcrete application and ground support design inputs.
Practical knowledge of explosives handling, blast design fundamentals and regulatory requirements for the storage and use of explosives.
Proficiency in Microsoft Excel for reporting, KPI dashboards and basic data analysis; familiarity with Power BI, Tableau or SQL is a plus.
Strong understanding of ventilation, gas monitoring and environmental controls relevant to mining operations.
Experience managing maintenance activities and working with CMMS systems for planning preventive maintenance and tracking equipment history.
Competency in incident investigation methods (root cause analysis) and safety management systems (ISO 45001, behavioral safety programs).
Familiarity with regulatory frameworks and permitting processes relevant to mining operations (e.g., MSHA, State Mining Acts, environmental permits).

Soft Skills

Strong operational leadership with the ability to motivate, coach and hold teams accountable for safety and production outcomes.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills for clear shift handovers, reporting to management and liaising with contractors and regulators.
High level of situational awareness, decisiveness and calm under pressure when responding to incidents or operational disruptions.
Problem-solving and analytical mindset with an emphasis on continuous improvement and data-driven decision making.
Effective stakeholder management—able to coordinate cross-functional groups including geology, maintenance, processing and external contractors.
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail to manage multiple priorities, compliance tasks and documentation.
Conflict resolution and negotiation skills for working with unions, contractors and multidisciplinary teams.
Coaching and mentoring capability to develop frontline supervisors and technical staff.
Adaptability and resilience to operate in remote, shift-based and often changing operational environments.
Commitment to ethical behavior, compliance and fostering an inclusive, safety-first workplace culture.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

High school diploma or equivalent with a recognized mining technical certificate, or
Trade qualification (e.g., heavy equipment operator, fitter) plus relevant site leadership experience.

Preferred Education:

Diploma or degree in Mining Engineering, Mining Technology, Geology or a related engineering discipline.
Postgraduate qualifications in mine management, safety or operations management are advantageous.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Mining Engineering
Mining Technology / Mine Operations
Geology / Applied Geoscience
Mechanical or Industrial Engineering (with mining experience)
Environmental Science (for roles with significant environmental compliance duties)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 5–12 years of progressive mining experience with at least 2–4 years in a supervisory or lead role.

Preferred:

7+ years in mining operations with demonstrated experience leading crews, managing drill & blast and delivering production targets.
Proven track record of supervising both direct labor and contractors, implementing safety programs and achieving operational KPIs.
Relevant certifications such as Blaster’s Certificate, First Aid/CPR, Rescue/Refresher (for underground), MSHA or equivalent regulator-specific certifications where applicable.