Meet Mofazzal Ahmed who has recently joined Datamine Australia in Perth as a Mining Consultant, specialising in Underground Mining. He will be supporting the Underground Core product suite covering design, optimisation, planning (short and long term), drill and blast, and ventilation (Studio UG, MSO, Aegis, EPS, Ventsim, SOT).
Get to know Mofazzal a little better through the interview below:
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I am a Mining Engineer with more than 5 years of experience in the Mining Industry working in underground metalliferous mines around Australia in multiple commodities and mining methods at different sites including Mandalay Heathcote, Aeris Tritton, 29 metals Golden Grove and Northern Star Carosue Dam Operations. Born and raised in Bangladesh, I’ve finished my school in Dhaka before I moved to Newcastle NSW to do my bachelor’s in mining in 2010. And ever since I have called Australia home.
I started my mining career with RUC Mining Contractors as a graduate project engineer in 2017 at Mandalay resources in the green marshes of Heathcote Victoria. In the beginning the challenge was to get my head around the underground mine and getting my first underground light vehicle driving ticket. After that it was a steep learning curve of practical and conceptual learning of the very many aspects of underground mining at all the different sites in Australia.
My work involved contract management, operation, drill and blast, short-term scheduling, project management, and statutory role as a ventilation officer. I have thoroughly enjoyed my mining career and wanted to expand my knowledge, so I joined Datamine as a mining consultant to experience and explore mining from a unique perspective.
What inspired your career in this industry?
I have always been interested in identifying problems and finding solutions since childhood. My dad was a civil engineer and his work inspired me to be an engineer. I started with civil engineering at university but later on, moved to mine engineering as I found it to be a more challenging and niche sector.
What is the most satisfying aspect of your role / the work you do?
I love helping clients achieve their goals that is the most satisfying aspect of my role. I help clients understand and utilise Datamine software packages designed for underground mines to get effective and efficient solutions to meet their targets.
What are your best memories from your career?
Enjoying barbeques and lunches with my team at different mine sites. Having meaningful conversations and getting to know my team and appreciating the cultures that we come from. It makes you realise that mining is all about the people.
Apart from them, an exciting memory was being involved in designing an open pit blast for the crown of an old remnant underground mining pit. The whole design was conceptualised as an underground stope to drill and blast and drop into the void at the bottom where it will be extracted as an underground stope.
What’s a fun fact about you?
I love nature and travel whenever I get a chance even if it’s a 30 min drive from home to a lake or the beach. I get claustrophobic if I am away from green nature for too long.
So far, I have covered most of the Australian states except for the Northern territory. And internationally I have done the USA, India, Singapore and Malaysia. I hope to cover 188+ countries before I can’t move my legs anymore.
Connect with Mofazzal on LinkedIn here.
For more information or to connect with our team, make sure to send us an enquiry.
