About us

K92 Mining Limited are the owners the high-grade Kainantu Gold Mine in Eastern Highlands Province. Since commencing operations in 2016, we have delivered consistent production growth. More importantly, we have contributed significantly to the economy of Papua New Guinea, more than 90% of our employees and contractors are from PNG and our local education and skills development initiatives which include scholarships, traineeships and adult literacy programs continue to bring significant benefit the communities in which we operate. 

We are now transforming the operation with a new 1.2 mtpa process plant as well as extensive construction and expansion across site that will see us triple the output from our mine by 2027. In addition to our ongoing production success, we have an extensive exploration programme across our highly prospective tenement, making K92 a great place to build a long-term career.

About the role

Reporting to the Exploration Manager, you will manage the drilling operations and logistics for the drilling support and regional exploration field camps at our Kainantu mine site in Papua New Guinea.  As our fleet of rigs grows from 5 to 7 in 2026, you will ensure world class operational and safety standards for our national team as you supervise and train our Diamond Drilling supervisors and crews.

Key Accountabilities

Key accountabilities of this position include.

• Contributing to ensuring the health and safety of all personnel associated with the Company’s Papua New Guinea exploration drill activities (including identification and reporting of hazards; timely submission of weekly statutory Form 274 reports etc).
• Management of all aspects of the company’s surface diamond drill fleet and all related machinery and equipment.
• Ensuring the effective use of the appropriate systems, and identifying and recommending system improvements (i.e., developing new and reviewing current Exploration related JHAs and derivative SOPs with a view to constant improvement).
• Contributing to the fortnightly meetings as well as the weekly/monthly drill forecasts.
• Organising and managing local field contracts/service agreements and petty cash pertaining to drill activities.
• Managing causal/national drill crew timesheets, disciplinary action, training/capacity building, driller appraisals and personnel changes (e.g., promotions).
• Contributing to building, developing and leading an effective and increasingly capable Papua New Guinea exploration team.
• Ensuring the work performance of self and direct reports meets all role and business plan requirements.
• Implementing procedures to ensure par levels of all exploration drill consumables, including ordering/monitoring of spare parts, food/camp requirements as well as warehouse procurement.
• Liaise closely with Community Affairs (CA) team to facilitate access to drill areas as well as the timely submission of compensation claims and drill incentives.
• Coordinating/facilitating/support of surface geochemical, geophysical and drilling programmes as required (including the construction of field camps).
• Managing efficiency and cost effectiveness of drill related activities (viz. heli costs; reviewing daily plods/monthly invoices; monitoring of drill costs and performance).
• Contributing to ensuring that the Papua New Guinea drill exploration function meets all relevant internal and external compliance obligations and is considered a welcome guest in host communities.
• Providing timely, accurate and relevant reporting to the Deputy of Exploration and/or delegate as well as other internal and external parties as appropriate.
• Contributing productively as a member of the K92 Exploration Team.
• Develop and manage the Exploration Team, including management of contractors.
• Design and Implementation of Diamond Drill training system.
• Responsible for the efficient, safe, optimal and continuous operation of diamond drilling; and
• Effective and reliable delivery of diamond drill core to the geologist.
• Liaise with geology management in regard to the drilling program.
• Reporting of drilling progress to Management team.
• Identify and communicate with suppliers.
• Assign tasks to superintendents and drill staff as required.
• Establish a high-performance culture by motivating team members to achieve a high level of performance and by rewarding and recognising high performance.
• Ensure effective processes for communicating relevant information, including company, site, department, and team performance, to all team members are in place.
• Identify skills gaps and training requirements and assist in developing training packages as required to close the skills gap.
• Coordinate and assist with the delivery of training to employees.
• Delivers work within approved budget managing any variances in accordance with escalation process.
• Actively seeks cost reduction opportunities.
• Actively promotes a safe and healthy culture.
• Demonstrates personal responsibility for own health and safety whilst setting clear expectations of relevant legal obligations, safe workplace practices and HSE operating practices to others, holding them accountable for their actions.
• Ensure diamond drilling operations are conducted by competent operators in a safe manner and in accordance with established procedures and legislation
• Ensure Drilling operations are performed to best standard of safety Perform general housekeeping within and around responsible work area.

About You

To be considered for this role, it is essential that you have relevant qualification in Drilling Operations and a broad range of drilling and logistics exposure within the mining industry, you will also have strong people skills and work in a collaborative manner. In addition, you must have all or some of the following:

• 10+ years relevant work experience essential.
• Sound knowledge of exploration and drilling techniques.
• Ability to successfully manage multiple competing priorities and reconciling these with the exploration departments strategic objectives.
• Demonstrated capacity to make sound short-term tactical decisions – quickly assembling and interpreting data to successfully action priorities.
• Demonstrated capability in organising work, setting priorities and exercising sound independent judgement.
• Strong ability to lead and work effectively with people.
• High energy and level of enthusiasm for work with high performance goals for self and team.
• Strong interpersonal, influencing and communication skills.
• Demonstrated strategic and analytic thinking.
• Well-developed industry networks.
• Strong track record in business improvement.
• Experience working in a remote location and operating in wet, tropical and steep environments.
• Successful work experience in a Melanesian country or in other developing countries.
• Previous experience operating in Papua New Guinea or developing countries in remote locations will be highly regarded.
• Knowledge of critical components of the Drills and their functions.
• Computer proficiency in MS Office suite.
• Experience in the use of Pronto will be advantageous.
• Sound planning, analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent trouble shooting skills.
• Self-motivated with the ability to work under pressure and autonomously.
• Excellent attention to detail and time management skills to meet deadlines.
• Strong active listening & interpersonal skills for rapport building, conflict resolution & training.

Life at K92 

K92 is an Equal Opportunity Employer, our commitment is to respect the rights of every individual to work to their highest potential, free from discrimination.  Our values of Collaboration, Accountability, Respect for others, Excellence and Safety are at the core of everything we do, and they are the foundation upon which our success has been built.

Our camp is well managed and provides residents with good, healthy meals made from locally sourced fresh produce as well as internet, cable tv and a gymnasium.

At K92, we want all employees to share in our success, so as well as a competitive salary, employees also participate in our long- and short-term incentive plans, we also provide employees with access to savings incentive programs, medical assistance and the option to salary sacrifice for certain expenses.

In addition to all of this, employees can also access our Wellbeing and employee assistance programs whilst working a friendly roster. 

TO COMPLY WITH PNG GOVERNMENT REQUIREMENTS ALL EXPATRIATE POSITIONS ARE OFFERED ON A FIXED TERM BASIS