Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Underground Planner

🎯 Role Definition

The Underground Planner is responsible for translating mine strategy into safe, cost-effective short- and long-term plans for underground operations. This role produces detailed development and production schedules, stope and drawpoint designs, material handling and logistics plans, and reconciliation reports while ensuring regulatory compliance, safety, and alignment with commercial objectives. The planner collaborates closely with operations, geology, production, ventilation, and management teams to optimize ore recovery, minimize dilution, and deliver reliable schedules that drive sustainable production.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Junior Mine Planner / Graduate Mine Planner
Mining Engineer (Underground)
Shift Supervisor or Underground Production Engineer

Advancement To:

Senior Underground Planner
Short-Term Planning Lead / Superintendent — Short-Term Planning
Mine Planning Manager / Head of Planning
Mine Operations Manager / General Manager (Underground)

Lateral Moves:

Geotechnical Engineer
Resource and Reserve Engineer
Production Superintendent
Mine Scheduling Specialist / Data Analytics for Mining

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop and maintain robust short-term (daily/weekly/monthly) and medium-term (quarterly/rolling 12 weeks) underground production schedules that balance grade control, ore flow, equipment availability, and workforce constraints to meet monthly targets and optimize cash flow.
Produce long-range mine plans and life-of-mine (LOM) schedules that incorporate geological models, economic parameters, mining methods, ventilation constraints, and infrastructure development to support business planning and capital allocation.
Create detailed stope designs, drawpoint layouts, and development plans including ore/waste boundaries, dilution control measures, access design and ground support standards to maximize ore recovery while controlling risk.
Perform block model interpretation and orebody validation using geological data to convert resources to mineable reserves and produce reconciled production and reserve reporting for internal stakeholders and external reporting.
Generate development and production sequencing plans that integrate development metres, production headings, orepasses, ore handling, and backfill strategies to ensure continuous and safe ore delivery to ROM or processing circuits.
Lead short-term scheduling activities using industry-standard software (e.g., Deswik, MineSched, Datamine, Vulcan, Surpac) to produce daily shift plans and weekly lookahead schedules that site operations can execute reliably.
Coordinate with Geology and Resource teams to update resource models, apply cut-off grades, reconcile production data to the block model, and recommend grade-control practices to reduce grade variability.
Develop and maintain master production and development schedules that tie into the mine’s fleet utilisation, contractor work scopes, and maintenance windows to optimize productivity and reduce bottlenecks.
Produce costed planning inputs and capital forecasting for development projects, including quantity take-offs, unit rates, productivity assumptions and contingency, to support budgeting and business-case development.
Deliver production forecasts, tonnes and grade schedules, and KPI dashboards for management, finance and operations using Excel, Power BI, or equivalent visualization and reporting tools.
Provide detailed designs and specifications for ground support, ventilation controls, and egress routes in collaboration with Geotech and HSE teams to ensure plans comply with safety standards and regulatory requirements.
Evaluate alternative mining sequences and stope extraction methods (e.g., longhole stoping, cut-and-fill, sublevel caving variants) through scenario modelling and sensitivity analysis to identify optimal sequences based on value, risk, and operational feasibility.
Collaborate with Ventilation Engineers to model airflows and incorporate ventilation constraints into mine planning to ensure production schedules are achievable within underground environmental limits.
Prepare and present clear planning packs and technical drawings (plans, sections, longitudinal profiles) for pre-shift briefings, planning meetings and approval processes with operations and stakeholders.
Coordinate with Drill & Blast teams to translate mining schedules into drill patterns, charging requirements and fragmentation targets, ensuring timing aligns with development and production sequences.
Implement stope reconciliation processes and continuous improvement loops—compare predicted tonnes/grade to actuals, quantify dilution and loss, and recommend corrective actions to close the reconciliation gap.
Liaise with maintenance and engineering teams to plan development access, raise maintenance windows and sequencing for major equipment moves to avoid conflicts with production schedules.
Ensure planning documentation meets statutory and corporate reporting standards, contributes to ore reserve statements, and supports external audits and regulatory inspections where required.
Facilitate cross-functional planning workshops (monthly/quarterly business planning sessions) to align production targets, capital development priorities and operational constraints across stakeholders.
Develop and maintain GIS and mine database integrity, including updating mine features, development status, orepasses, stopes and inventory tags so the planning model reflects the as-built condition.
Support mine closure and progressive rehabilitation planning by incorporating waste handling, backfill strategies and environmental constraints into long-term planning where applicable.
Mentor and train junior planners and engineers on planning tools, process standards and best practices to build planning capability across the site.

Secondary Functions

Coordinate ad-hoc analysis requests from operations, geology and management to inform decisions (e.g., what-if sequencing, equipment reallocation, contingency plans).
Contribute to implementation and continuous improvement of planning systems and workflows, including process documentation, templates, and QA/QC checks.
Work with finance and commercial teams to align production schedules with sales contracts, stockpile management and treatment plant throughput constraints.
Support the transition of plans into execution by participating in pre-shift meetings, handover packs and production reviews to ensure the plan is understood and followed by operations.
Participate in incident reviews and post-implementation assessments to refine planning rules and risk mitigations following unplanned events or schedule disruptions.
Assist with the evaluation and onboarding of mine planning software, automation tools and data integrations to improve the efficiency and accuracy of planning outputs.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proficient in underground mine planning and scheduling software such as Deswik, Vulcan (Maptek), Datamine, MineSched, Surpac or equivalent for stope design, scheduling and resource modelling.
Strong expertise in short-term (shift/weekly) and medium/long-term scheduling methodologies, production sequencing, and reconciliation processes.
Advanced Microsoft Excel skills (pivot tables, VBA/macros, complex modelling) for schedule analysis, reconciliation and financial inputs.
Experience with mine resource models, block model interpretation, grade control and converting resources to reserves under industry reporting standards.
Competence with GIS/CAD and mine drawing outputs (plans, sections, profiles) and the ability to prepare technical planning packs for operational use.
Understanding of underground mining methods (longhole open stoping, cut-and-fill, benching, sublevel stoping) and how each method influences planning and scheduling.
Knowledge of ventilation modelling, ground control fundamentals, backfill techniques and how these engineering constraints affect scheduling decisions.
Familiarity with drill & blast planning and its integration into production schedules to ensure timely face availability and fragmentation outcomes.
Ability to perform economic and scenario analysis, including NPV, cut-off grade analysis, sensitivity testing and cost estimation for development works.
Competence with data management and mine databases, including as-built updates, reconciliation of production data, and maintaining planning model integrity.
Experience with reporting and visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau) and producing KPI dashboards and forecast reports for operational and commercial stakeholders.
Basic scripting or automation skills (Python, SQL, or similar) are a strong advantage for automating repetitive planning and reporting tasks.

Soft Skills

Clear and concise communicator — able to present complex schedules and technical trade-offs to operations, management and non-technical stakeholders.
Strong analytical thinker with meticulous attention to detail for quality assurance of designs and schedules.
Problem-solver with a pragmatic approach to balancing safety, cost and production objectives under changing site conditions.
Collaborative team player who builds trust with geology, operations, maintenance, HSE and commercial teams to deliver integrated plans.
Time management and prioritisation skills to manage multiple planning horizons (daily vs LOM) and urgent operational changes.
Adaptive and resilient under pressure, able to re-sequence plans quickly in response to unforeseen events or resource constraints.
Leadership and mentorship capability to coach junior planners and influence cross-functional teams.
Safety-first mindset and commitment to embedding HSE requirements into all planning outputs.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Mining Engineering, Geological Engineering, or equivalent technical discipline.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s plus postgraduate diploma or Master’s degree in Mining Engineering, Mine Planning, Mineral Resource Management, or Business/Project Management.
Professional registration (e.g., Chartered Engineer, Registered Professional Engineer) or Mine Manager certification where applicable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Mining Engineering
Geological Engineering / Geology
Mineral Resource Management
Civil/Mining Systems Engineering
Mining Operations Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–8 years of mine planning experience with at least 2–4 years in underground mining operations.

Preferred:

5+ years of progressive underground planning experience in active underground mines, including demonstrated delivery of short-term and long-term plans.
Hands-on experience with at least one major planning software suite (Deswik, Vulcan, Datamine, MineSched).
Proven track record of successful reconciliation, production forecasting and cross-functional stakeholder engagement.