Most mine planning roles ask you to optimise what already exists. At Liontown, we want you to help shape what comes next. Kathleen Valley is a long-life lithium operation in production, with underground stoping underway and decades of mining ahead. For an experienced planning engineer, the timing couldn’t be better. The strategic decisions being made now will define this operation for years to come, and you’ll be part of making them.
Kathleen Valley’s process plant is fully commissioned, and the operation is in production. The open pit phase is complete, while underground operations ramp-up with decline and level development on track. Underground stoping commenced in 2025, making Kathleen Valley the first underground lithium mine in Australia.
Mine Planning Engineer Jobs in Perth & WA
What mine planning engineers do at Kathleen Valley
Mine planning engineers at Kathleen Valley work within the underground mine planning team, reporting to a Mine Planning Superintendent. The roles focus on developing and optimising underground mine plans as the operation scales. That includes:
- Developing and optimising underground mine plans with a focus on safety, geological and geotechnical factors
- Designing development and stoping plans aligned to production goals
- Supporting Life of Mine and quarterly schedules that maximise ore recovery and support business targets
- Collaborating with ventilation and geotechnical engineers to ensure underground designs are robust, safe and practical
- Designing and planning underground infrastructure, including raises, declines, haulage systems, to optimise efficiency and extraction rates
- Working across disciplines with geology, project engineering and operational teams to integrate planning into broader feasibility and operational efforts
This isn’t a role where you’ll be handed a plan and asked to refine the edges. You’ll be actively involved in the decisions that determine how the underground mine develops.
The Team
Kathleen Valley’s mine planning team is collaborative and close-knit, with a culture that values technical rigour and genuine teamwork. You’ll work alongside geotechnical engineers, ventilation engineers, geologists and project engineers. The team operates with a startup mentality, backed by the stability of a long-life, high-quality resource.
The kind of person who thrives here:
- Proactive about safety and continuous improvement, not just compliant with it
- A strong collaborator
- A proactive problem-solver
- Someone who wants to help build something, not just maintain it
Getting to Site
Most roles operate on an 8:6 roster. Flights between Perth Airport and Kathleen Valley run morning and evening, three days a week, with a flight time of approximately one hour, followed by a short 10-minute bus ride to site.
Life at the Dragonfly Village
When you’re on site, home is the Dragonfly Village — our modern, state-of-the-art accommodation village shaped after a Tjiwarl Dreamtime story, designed out of respect for the Traditional Owners of the land on which we operate.
Every room has an ensuite bathroom, wardrobe, desk, bed, bedside table with lamp, smart TV and fridge. The village is a 10-minute drive from the main work areas, with regular coaster buses running at shift changeover times.
After work, you’ll find a well-equipped gym with personal trainers available, a tavern with pub meals and a relaxed outdoor pavilion, a running track and sports courts, a retail shop with barista-made coffee, and a dining room led by an award-winning chef serving buffet and à la carte menus for breakfast and dinner.
Find out more about life on site.
Ready to join us?
If you’re a mine planning engineer looking for your next step, we’d like to hear from you.