Position Title: Senior Principal, Technical Studies
Reports To:VP, Technical Services
Position Summary:
The Senior Principal, Technical Studies leads the definition, execution, and delivery of Hecla's technical studies across operating mines, growth projects, and joint ventures. The work spans regulatory studies under S-K 1300 and NI 43-101, trade-off and option studies, technical support to greenfield and brownfield permitting, and economic evaluations of what it would take to make an opportunity work.
This is a working technical role, not a project controls role. The incumbent must frame the right question, speak the language of the people who hold the answers, secure the resource capable of doing the work, and carry it through, whether personally on a scoping evaluation, or leading an integrated Hecla and external team on a feasibility study. The role is measured on whether the work resulted in a decision and subsequent action, and coordinates across Corporate Technical Services, operational sites, exploration, capital projects, and Finance.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
Study Definition and Execution:
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Define the business question and the decision each study must support before scoping work; select the study type and level of definition.
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Work with the corporate/site discipline leads to set study assumptions, standards, and process, and apply them consistently across every workstream.
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Execute studies personally where scale permits and lead integrated Hecla and external teams where it does not, integrating the mining, geology, metallurgical, geotechnical, tailings, water, infrastructure, environmental and financial workstreams.
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Lead trade-off and option studies, including alternatives analysis, capital and operating trade-offs, and value engineering, and build, audit, and defend the economic models supporting them.
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Lead technical due diligence evaluations on acquisitions, divestments, and joint venture opportunities, frequently on compressed timelines and incomplete data.
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Support site studies and evaluations requested by site General Managers, the COO, or VP Operations, with scope and priority set through the VP, Technical Services.
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Author and edit study documentation, taking personal responsibility for the clarity and defensibility of the written product; manage study scope, cost, and schedule to commitment.
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Provide input to the annual studies budget and forecast.
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Complete studies through handover to the project execution team, transferring basis of design, cost and schedule basis, and outstanding risks.
Consultant Sourcing and Management:
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Identify and secure the right consultant, laboratory, or specialist for a given problem, drawing on an established network across the mining technical community.
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Scope and procure external work, negotiate deliverables and fees, and hold consultants to technical quality, schedule, and budget.
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Engage consultants as technical partners: frame the problem, direct the analysis as it develops, and work through technical disagreement to a conclusion both Hecla and the consultant can defend.
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Review deliverables substantively; interrogate methods and inputs and reproduce critical calculations rather than accepting conclusions on reputation.
Regulatory Studies, Disclosure and Permitting Support:
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Manage the preparation of technical reports under S-K 1300 and NI 43-101: coordinate contributing Qualified Persons, Resources, Legal, and Investor Relations, hold the schedule and the deliverable, and ensure supporting work is completed to standard. Serve as Qualified Person for assigned sections where qualifications permit.
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Produce the technical and economic basis that permitting submittals rely on: equipment and production quantities, consumables, and alternatives analyses. Deliver it to the permitting team in the form required for application; provide the technical basis for responses to agency information requests.
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Ensure design basis reflects environmental, permitting, closure, and land considerations, and that study records meet the evidentiary standard for public disclosure.
Governance and Assurance:
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Maintain corporate standards, templates, and tools for technical studies, including study definition levels, estimate accuracy classes, and contingency practice.
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Define stage-gate criteria, convene peer reviews and independent technical review, verify recommendations are tracked to closure, and drive improvement through lookback of prior forecasts against realized performance.
Communication and Decision Support:
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Present findings, key assumptions, sensitivities, and residual risk to the Executive Leadership Team, the Board, site leadership, and joint venture committees in a form that supports a decision.
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State confidence levels and limitations plainly; follow through to confirm recommendations become decisions and decisions become action.
Additional Responsibilities:
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Serve as a visible safety leader, ensuring study activities and site visits adhere to Hecla health, safety, environmental, and community standards.
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Perform other duties as required.
QUALIFICATIONS
Education and Experience
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Bachelor’s degree (or higher) in Mining Engineering preferred; Geology, Civil, Geotechnical, or Metallurgical Engineering considered where mining study leadership is demonstrated
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15+ years of progressive technical experience in mining, including demonstrated leadership of studies through PEA, prefeasibility, and feasibility in an operating company, consultancy, or both
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Demonstrated track record of studies and reports that supported decisions and led to action
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Substantial experience selecting, scoping, and managing engineering consultants, and an established network sufficient to mobilize suitable expertise quickly
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Underground narrow-vein and polymetallic (silver, zinc, lead, gold) experience strongly preferred
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Direct experience preparing, coordinating, or contributing to technical reports under S-K 1300 and NI 43-101 required; Qualified Person status or eligibility an asset
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Professional registration required: Professional Engineer (PE or P.Eng.), or Professional Geologist or Geoscientist (PG or P.Geo.) for geoscience disciplines
Technical Skills
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Strong command of mine economic evaluation: discounted cash flow modeling, cut-off grade theory and application, incremental and marginal analysis, and sensitivity analysis. Able to personally build and defend a cash flow model
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Working knowledge of an operating mine’s cost structure (direct production costs, sustaining capital, DD&A, and closure obligations, and their treatment in forward-looking evaluation), plus capital cost estimating, contingency, and AACE estimate classification
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Working knowledge of mine planning software (Deswik, Vulcan, Surpac, or similar) sufficient to interrogate and challenge planning outputs
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Practical command of the disciplines integrated in a typical study (e.g. geology and resource estimation, geotechnical, metallurgical, tailings, water, environmental) sufficient to frame the right question and judge the answer
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Strong technical writing and editing capability; able to produce a clear, defensible report without ghostwriting support
General Competencies
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Credible technical leadership, able to earn the confidence of site engineers, SMEs, consultants, and executives on the strength of the work
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Hands-on approach with personal ownership of the deliverable; equally comfortable performing the analysis and directing it
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Objectivity in the treatment of uncertainty, including clear communication of confidence levels and the limitations of the work
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Able to explain complex technical and economic reasoning clearly to non-specialist and Board-level audiences, while managing concurrent studies of differing urgency
