Diamond Drilling Contracts Specialist | Prominent Hill (90427)

About BHP:

At BHP we support our people to grow, learn, develop their skills and reach their potential. With a global portfolio of operations, we offer a diverse and inclusive environment with extraordinary career opportunities. Our strategy is to focus on creating a safe work environment where our employees feel strongly connected to our values and objectives, and where the capability of our people is key to our success.

Come and be a part of this success. 

About The Role:

Prominent Hill is a copper-gold mine, a long-life asset, that is part of the BHP South Australia copper province.  BHP is a global company with operations in Australia, North and South America across 5 different commodities.

We are seeking an experienced and highly motivated Diamond Drill Contracts Specialist to join our underground mining operations. This role is critical in ensuring the safe, effective, and efficient execution of diamond drilling programs in alignment with operational goals and BHP’s contractor management standards.

The successful candidate will act as a key interface between drilling contractors, technical teams, and operations, ensuring that the execution of drilling activities meets planning targets, quality standards, and commercial obligations.

Location: Prominent Hill, South Australia (60-minute flight from Adelaide / 30-minute flight from Port Augusta)
Roster: 5 days on; 2 days off, 4 days on; 3 days off
Department: Mining Operations
Manager: Superintendent – Contracts
Employment Type: Permanent. 

Applications close: 4 July 2024

In this role you will:

• Collaborate with mine planning, geology, and technical services teams to align drill programs with mine schedules and objectives.
• Support site setups for drilling programs, ensuring readiness, access, services, and compliance with site standards.
• Monitor drilling progress and performance, troubleshoot operational issues, and drive continuous improvement in safety, productivity, and core recovery.
• Ensure operations and our contract partners deliver against plan with a strong focus on schedule adherence and data quality.
• Lead the setup and ongoing administration of drilling contracts, ensuring alignment with BHP’s Contractor Management Framework.
• Act as the primary point of contact for contract personnel on site, ensuring scope, standards, and KPIs are clearly defined and enforced.
• Monitor contractor performance, compliance, and HSE obligations, ensuring accountability and collaboration.
• Identify and implement opportunities to optimise contract execution and commercial outcomes for both parties.
• Conduct regular site inspections and audits to ensure adherence to BHP standards, site safety protocols, and operational procedures.
• Ensure accurate reporting, cost control, and reconciliation of contractor invoices against performance metrics and scope delivery.

About You:

• Extensive experience in underground diamond drilling, with strong exposure to hard rock geology.
• Demonstrated experience in managing and working closely with underground diamond drilling contractors, including contract setup, performance tracking, and compliance.
• Strong understanding of mine planning and scheduling principles and how drilling supports the overall mining strategy.
• Knowledge of the BHP systems and tools as well as Contractor Management Framework or equivalent systems is advantageous.
• Proven ability to work collaboratively across technical and operational teams.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, and negotiation skills.
• A proactive approach to safety, risk management, and operational excellence.

About Our Process:

At BHP, we are committed to employing individuals who align with the BHP Charter Values and meet the requirements of the role. As part of the recruitment process, there are a number of checks which may be conducted to demonstrate applicants’ suitability for a role including police / criminal background checks, medical, drug, and alcohol testing, due diligence checks, right to work checks, and/or reference checks.

If you are already employed directly by BHP, please log in using your BHP email address or apply via our internal jobs portal.  

Supporting a Diverse Workforce:

The size, stability and magnitude of our business not only provides significant opportunity for professional development, but also attractive salary packages with performance-based bonuses and a best-in-class employee share program. We know there are many aspects of our employees' lives that are important, and work is only one of these, so we offer benefits to enable your work to fit with your life. These benefits include flexible working options, a generous paid parental leave policy, other extended leave entitlements and parent rooms.  

At BHP, we know that we are strengthened by diversity. We are an Equal Opportunity employer that is committed to making BHP a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive and be at their best every day. We are focused on creating a workforce that’s more diverse and represents the communities where we work and live. providing a work environment in which everyone is included, treated fairly and with respect. We are an Equal Opportunity employer and recognise that true diversity includes gender, age, race, disability status, sexual orientation, religion, neurodiversity, education levels, and many more aspects of your identity.

BHP is committed to providing a recruitment process that is fair, equitable and accessible for all. If you have a disability, we know that it may be helpful for us to adjust our process to make it equitable for your individual situation. If you would like to reach out to someone about your situation and our recruitment process, please email us at inclusion@bhp.com