Working as a project manager is like playing a game of chess where you need to update your real-time strategies for every job to meet the challenges of an ever-changing field.
Australian project management experts accomplish this while managing many different elements, such as procurement, safety, risk, and costs, which must align to complete a project on time. The role of a project manager in a mining field works through many layers deeper.
Qualities of Project Managers
Project managers are detail-oriented, have goals in mind, and possess knowledge of mining operations and equipment. They also hold excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Project managers love to take the challenge of balancing their engineering skills with their managerial expertise. They work in an office at the mining site and visit different areas of mining or milling sites, including underground locations.
Responsibilities of a Project Manager
Unlike project management in the construction industry, a mining project is responsible for opening up new mine sections.
- They develop plans for full-scale project work and make proper documentation, including record keeping of work scope, budget, and schedule of the mining work.
- Project managers hire or outsource workers to meet the requirements of that particular project.
- They track and manage different mining projects to ensure delivery within the approved scope, schedule, budget, and quality.
- A project manager is also responsible for coordinating operations, engineering, maintenance, and external contractors.
- They not only develop standards, procedures, and policies but also make sure to implement them for each project work.
- Project managers manage mining activities, work as middlemen with department management to get approval, and deal with possible risks.
A project manager in the mining industry evaluates project outcomes as established during the initial phase of planning. These experts delegate work to achieve desirable results. They identify challenges and solve problems. Influencing other workers of all levels is also part of the duty.
Requirements of Working as a Project Manager
Working as a project manager in the mining industry requires you to hold a bachelor’s degree in mining engineering. You might also need professional registration, such as P. Engineering. Similarly, having working experience of 4 to 6 years in the mining sector is mandatory. Project managers may also need to undergo project management training or certification to upgrade their skills. Lastly, they should have adequate knowledge of mining regulations, protocols, and standards.
Challenges of Project management
Managing mining projects requires you to have proper design and planning of the project in hand. It involves creating a road map that can remove uncertainty about a project to a maximum extent.
Another challenging aspect for project management professionals is to pull in all the available information gathered at the planning stage to create a budget based on the principal resource and productivity. It will allow them to carry out accurate management activities for the actual investment.
Some ever-changing mining projects are overwhelming when it comes to monitoring the actual elements. It includes cost, regular progress, and production. Forecasting about changing expenses and creating a real-time budget can be a challenging aspect for project management.
Project managers are bound to do the needful for decision reporting. Once all the information in one database, a manager should be able to make the right decision with certainty. While a daunting range of challenges can be overwhelming to address, ground-breaking innovations about data processing can help managers react and respond effectively.
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