Profession mine ventilation engineer

Mine ventilation engineers design and manage systems and equipment to ensure fresh air supply and air circulation in underground mines and the timely removal of noxious gases. They co-ordinate ventilation system design with mine management, mine safety engineer and mine planning engineer.

Personality Type

• Investigative / Realistic
• Realistic / Investigative

Knowledge

• Mine safety legislation

  The laws, regulations and codes of practice relevant to safety in mining operations.

• Design drawings

  Understand design drawings detailing the design of products, tools, and engineering systems.

• Computational fluid dynamics

  The principles of computer-manipulated fluid mechanics, which determines the behaviour of fluids in motion. 

Skills

• Manage mine ventilation

  Monitor, audit and manage the air quality of the mine. Monitor the ventilation equipment. Manage air sampling equipment designed to identify toxic gases, and provide advice and direction on how to remove them, e.g. by installing ventilation fans.

• Design ventilation network

  Draft ventilation network. Prepare and plan the ventilation layout using specialist software. Design heating or cooling systems as required. Improve efficiency of ventilation network to lower energy consumption.

• Supervise staff

  Oversee the selection, training, performance and motivation of staff.

• Address problems critically

  Identify the strengths and weaknesses of various abstract, rational concepts, such as issues, opinions, and approaches related to a specific problematic situation in order to formulate solutions and alternative methods of tackling the situation.

• Ensure compliance with safety legislation

  Implement safety programmes to comply with national laws and legislation. Ensure that equipment and processes are compliant with safety regulations.

• Prepare technical reports

  Prepare technical reports that describe results and processes of scientific or technical research, or assess its progress. These reports help researchers to keep up to date with recent findings.

• Manage emergency procedures

  React quickly in case of emergency and set planned emergency procedures in motion.

• Use a computer

  Utilise computer equipment or digital devices to facilitate quality control, data management, and communication. Follow instructions given by a computer programme, create computer files or documents.

• Use mine planning software

  Use specialised software to plan, design and model for mining operations.

• Troubleshoot

  Identify operating problems, decide what to do about it and report accordingly.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB