Mining-Project Covenant Recovery Leader

The mandate

A copper expansion is behind schedule and above cost, while updated ore grade and recovery assumptions weaken the completion test supporting project debt. Contingency and sponsor support are finite, and lenders receive separate engineering, cost and financial narratives. The project-finance director resigned after a forecast challenge, creating a fixed fourteen-month seat through commissioning and completion covenant determination.

The interim leader will connect mine plan, construction progress, processing readiness, ramp-up, grade, recovery, operating cost, price, liquidity and financing documents into one completion path. Work includes remaining-cost confidence, contingency, sponsor support, draw and reserve, covenant forecasting, technical-adviser evidence, waiver options and downside. Qualified engineers own technical conclusions; finance owns their faithful translation into cash and lender decisions.

A permanent mining-finance executive must be appointed by month eight and lead the final lender model review plus commissioning liquidity command. Handover requires the successor to challenge a recovery curve, decide contingency allocation and defend completion-test headroom under downside. The transfer includes model lineage, facility interpretations from counsel, remaining commitments, claims, lender issues, sponsor obligations and residual technical uncertainty.

The seat can direct project finance and cash command, set forecast evidence, prioritise contingency within approved limits, stop unsupported lender submissions and recommend waiver or sponsor-support choices. It cannot certify construction or metallurgical performance, change reserves, trade copper, approve claims, sign financing amendments, waive environmental or safety requirements, or accept covenant breach.

The remit excludes acting as mine manager, technical adviser, resource competent person or legal counsel. Success means remaining cost and ramp cash are credible, covenant paths reconcile to engineering evidence, financing choices precede deadlines and permanent leadership can navigate completion. The fixed term will not extend to accommodate optimistic schedules or delayed sponsor decisions.

Why this seat is open

The forecast challenge exposed different versions of completion across construction, processing and finance while the accountable leader departed. Lender decisions and commissioning cannot wait for a conventional search. Temporary executive authority is needed to force one evidence chain, allocate scarce contingency and qualify a successor through the project’s decisive technical-to-financial transition.

What you will own

• Reconcile mine, plant, infrastructure, commissioning and ramp milestones to remaining cost, cash and financing conditions.
• Translate grade, recovery, throughput, availability and operating-cost evidence into production and debt-service scenarios.
• Establish commitment, contingency, claim, sponsor support, reserve and liquidity views with accountable source ownership.
• Forecast completion tests and covenants under delay, cost, grade, recovery, price, currency and ramp downside.
• Lead lender and technical-adviser evidence cycles while preserving engineering, counsel and signing authorities.
• Frame waiver, additional equity, scope, pacing and contingency choices with time and project-value consequences explicit.
• Induct the successor through model and liquidity decisions and transfer every completion dependency before fixed departure.

Candidate qualifications

• Has led project finance through construction, commissioning and completion tests for a major mining development.
• Understands mine plan, grade, recovery, throughput, ramp, remaining cost, contingency, sponsor support and covenant interaction.
• Can translate technical uncertainty into cash and lender evidence without making unsupported engineering conclusions.
• Has negotiated board choices before waiver and completion deadlines while preserving credible downside and fallback.
• Has resisted optimistic ramp and cost forecasts when technical evidence did not support financing assumptions.
• Demonstrates handover to a permanent leader tested through lender, contingency and commissioning-liquidity decisions.

Non-negotiables

• Will work onsite in Santiago and complete every mine-site residency and quarterly lender completion review.
• Must disclose relationships with miners, lenders, contractors, technical advisers, offtakers and project investors.
• Brings mining completion finance under project debt; corporate mining finance alone is insufficient.
• Will not present unsupported grade, recovery, schedule or claim outcomes as covenant headroom.

1. 49 words maximum. Which technical assumption most often distorts a mining project’s completion-test forecast?
2. 49 words maximum. How would you allocate contingency when schedule and recovery risks compete?
3. 49 words maximum. What lender model decision must the permanent executive own before handover?