Principal Geochemist at African Industries Group (AIG)

Job Purpose

• To generate new regional exploration targets/projects and assess new opportunities for the company using geochemical exploration techniques.
• The role has overall accountability for supporting the generation and execution of exploration projects using geochemical techniques, coordinating the collection and analysis of all soil, stream sediments, rocks, drill core, drill chips sampling programmes.

Principle Accountabilities

• Ensure safety, health and wellbeing of employees and equipment to comply with both legal requirements and the company policy.
• Lead the development of geochemical sampling protocols, analytical suites, QAQC, interpretation of geochemical data to understand geological and mineral formation processes, and supervise sampling programmes.
• Creating global, regional and local geochemical mineral prospectivity maps for all key mineral commodities the company has interest in.
• Compiling and analysing geochemical exploration data, to allow informed technical exploration and business development decisions.
• Generation of new project opportunities from analysing geochemical technical data and mineral belts reviews.
• Anchor operational excellence across the exploration teams, through continuous improvement initiatives and establishment of quality as a way of life, especially in the adoption and application of industry’s best, efficient and most cost-effective mineral exploration targeting techniques.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Professional Geologist designation with a BSc (Hons) in geology and an MSc degree in geochemistry or related geoscience.
• Must have at least 10 years of experience in exploration with significant portion of it in Greenfields exploration and field experience of high-value minerals including copper and other base metals; gold, silver, platinum and other precious metals; rare earth and energy minerals.
• Strong geoscientist with in-depth knowledge of geochemical and geological exploration methods and their applications in mineral resource targeting.
• Good knowledge about ore forming systems and exploration models.
• Proficient in data analysis software GIS (e.g. ArcGIS), drillhole and geochemical analysis (e.g. Geosoft Target, ioGAS), and data management software (e.g. DAP, Datashed, acQuire).
• Knowledge of different geochemical data types and their significance in exploration
• International/Africa experience in diverse geological environments.
• Excellent communication skills, oral, written, presentation and authoring of technical reports

Main Interface:
Internal:

• Manager and Peers: Head of Exploration; Exploration Manager; Mineral Resources Manager; Principal Geologist; Principal Geophysicist: Provide updates on project generation, collaborate on strategy and alignment with the company’s strategy, receive inputs and action decisions as required.
• Direct reports: None.
• Indirect report: Maintain consistent contact for alignment, support, generation and execution of all exploration activities and feedback.

External:

• Government (Geological Survey & Mining Cadastre Departments: liaison and networking for geo-data acquisition and mineral intelligence updates)
• Exploration Managers and Snr. Geoscientists of other Mining and Exploration Firms: Networking, collaboration, and benchmarking against industry’s best practices.
• Geological Consultants, Contractors and Organisations: collaborate and manage for specialised expertise in addressing specific technical challenges and needs.

Key Challenges:

• Acquisition and integration of relevant adequate geo-data sets to create value for the company in diverse geological and geographical environments.
• Adoption of cost effective and efficient mineral targeting techniques, management and availability of resources to ensure a quality exploration project portfolio is built and maintained within budget.