Job description
About the company:
The mining industry has steadily become worse at finding new ore deposits, requiring >10X more capital to make discoveries compared to 30 years ago. The easy-to-find, near-surface deposits have largely been found, and the industry has chronically under-invested in new exploration technology, relying on the manual techniques of yesteryear – even as demand accelerates for copper, lithium, and other metals to build electric vehicles, renewable energy, and data centers.
KoBold builds AI models for mineral exploration and deploys those models—alongside our novel sensors—to guide decisions on KoBold-owned-and-operated exploration programs. In the six years since founding, KoBold has become by far both the largest independent mineral exploration company and the largest exploration technology developer. Our data scientists and software engineers, who come from leading technology companies, jointly lead exploration programs with our renowned exploration geologists.
KoBold has proven its first discovery with materially less capital than the industry average and found one of the best copper deposits ever discovered: the copper is far more concentrated than the global average of copper mines, and this asset alone is expected to generate meaningful revenue for decades. KoBold has a portfolio of more than 60 other projects, each of which has the potential for another high-quality discovery.
KoBold is privately held; investors include institutional asset managers T. Rowe Rice and Canada Pension Plan Investments; technology venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, BOND Capital, and Standard Investments; and natural resources companies Equinor, BHP, and Mitsubishi.
About the position
In this role, you will help us conduct safe and effective field operations on our exploration projects around the world. You will work closely with the VP Field Operations, the COO and the leaders of each of our field programs to plan and execute our field activities to meet our business objectives without causing harm to our people, our contractors and partners, or the communities and environments where we operate.
Responsibilities
The Field Operations Manager - Africa & EU will be responsible for:
- Leading a multi-functional team including drilling, camp and logistics and civil construction in exploration environments with varying degrees of remoteness
- Overseeing the safe planning and execution of exploration drilling programs with both truck mounted and heli-portable rigs
- Overseeing the safe planning and execution of other exploration field operations including prospecting, soil sampling, geophysical surveys, etc.
- Building and maintaining a close relationship with the area geology, engineering and data science teams to provide operations input into the responsible and safe deployment of KoBold resources
- Ensuring that daily contact is maintained with and that the status of KoBold personnel and contractors is monitored while in the field
- Working closely with the VP of Field Operations and Director of HSE, maintain KoBold’s system for tracking health & safety incidents and field-based exposure hours and provide real-time reporting as requested
- Understanding applicable local laws and regulations and the practices of our joint venture partners and ensuring that we follow them in all our operations
- Working with area Field Operations and Drilling Leads to ensure that contractors and vendors are identified and evaluated for a wide range of field operations, from camp construction to helicopter transport to emergency medical services
- Overseeing the review of contracts and subsequent reconciliation of invoices to budgets, contract terms, and goods/services delivered to ensure proper payment
- Overseeing the shipment of equipment and material to and from KoBold’s project sites
- Creating ways of working that allow us to continue to work more effectively and to be nimble so that we can support machine-learning-driven dynamic field programs, where we adapt our plan based on the data we collect at each stage
- Collaborating with other Field Operations Managers and Leads to share learnings and opportunities for improvement in operational matters across the company, from finance and insurance to stakeholder relations
Qualifications
You must have:
- At least 15 years of experience conducting field operations in mineral exploration & mining, oil & gas or a related industry
- Demonstrated commitment to high standards of health & safety in the workplace
- Run programs in remote environments
- A high degree of independence and the ability to work effectively with limited supervision
- Demonstrated ability to lead multi-cultural and cross-functional teams
- Strong communication and collaboration skills with demonstrated ability to build and maintain high performing teams
- Enjoyment in working with people in a wide variety of disciplines and different parts of the world
- Interest in contributing broadly to the success of the company and eager to pitch in where needed
It is helpful but not required to have:
- Worked in Africa
- Worked in a small company or as a member of a very small team with a broad mandate
- Speak a second language
KoBold Metals is an equal opportunity workplace and an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunities for people of any race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, age, citizenship, disability, or veteran status.
This position is Full-time Exempt
Location: Home office / remote. Domiciled in Europe or Africa preferred.
