Mechanical Project Engineer (Process Plant)

Mechanical Project Engineer – Process Plant (Brownfield) – Gold Mining Company – Northern Ontario (Hybrid)

About the Opportunity

An exciting opportunity is available for a Mechanical Project Engineer to join the Capital Projects team supporting one of Canada's largest gold mining operations. This is an independent contractor opportunity with an immediate start.

This role focuses on brownfield mechanical projects inside an operating mine process plant, including the mill, crushing circuit, and related processing infrastructure. Projects involve upgrading, replacing, and modifying existing mechanical equipment while the plant continues to run. The successful candidate will bring hands-on experience delivering mechanical upgrades in this setting and working directly with operations and maintenance teams.

This is not a process engineering role. An established process team defines the process requirements; this position provides the mechanical engineering expertise to evaluate, select, specify, and implement the equipment that supports them.

Reporting directly to the Lead Mechanical Project Engineer, the Mechanical Project Engineer will act as package owner for assigned mechanical engineering packages, while the Lead maintains overall oversight of mechanical packages across the broader project team. The Mechanical Project Engineer will work closely with the Lead on key engineering decisions and escalate significant technical or execution roadblocks as required.

The role works closely with engineering consultants, OEMs, contractors, and plant operations and maintenance to coordinate design development, review engineering deliverables, assess constructability within the operating plant, prepare scopes of work, and carry assigned packages through execution.

This is an individual contributor position with no direct reports or people-management responsibilities.

Key Responsibilities

Process-plant mechanical engineering

• Act as package owner for assigned mechanical packages supporting brownfield upgrades within the operating process plant (mill, crushing, and related infrastructure), coordinating engineering activities, deliverables, interfaces, and stakeholders throughout execution.
• Evaluate and select mechanical equipment to support the established process, and assess whether consultant and OEM proposals meet site requirements for performance, reliability, maintainability, and fit with existing plant infrastructure.
• Work with the process engineering team to translate process requirements into mechanical design and equipment decisions.
• Work closely with operations and maintenance to understand plant constraints, equipment history, and access needs, and develop mechanical solutions that can be implemented while the plant is running.
• Plan mechanical work around production, including tie-ins, shutdown and outage scopes, isolation requirements, and staged installation.
• Develop and review mechanical concepts for process-plant equipment, including pumps, piping systems, material handling equipment, HVAC, tanks, utilities, and other process-support equipment.
• Support mechanical infrastructure scopes involving conveyors, shaker screens, paste plant systems, building envelopes, and other heavy industrial mechanical systems.
• Help evaluate technical alternatives ahead of detailed engineering, comparing equipment and layout options against existing plant conditions.

Consultant and design management

• Manage the day-to-day coordination of external engineering consultants responsible for assigned mechanical packages.
• Coordinate design development and ensure consultants deliver documentation in accordance with project requirements, scope, schedule, and applicable standards.
• Review consultant-produced drawings, specifications, calculations, datasheets, P&IDs, 3D models, technical reports, scopes of work, and other engineering deliverables.
• Review designs from a constructability perspective within the operating plant, confirming they can be practically and safely constructed, installed, accessed, and maintained around live equipment and existing infrastructure.
• Lead and participate in design and constructability reviews, including operations and maintenance input, and coordinate resulting revisions with consultants and stakeholders.
• Prepare and develop Scopes of Work (SOWs) for engineering consultants and contractors associated with assigned packages.
• Coordinate engineering interfaces between mechanical packages and other disciplines, including civil, structural, electrical, process, and piping.
• Support the transition of packages from concept / study / FEED into detailed engineering.

Procurement, construction, and closeout

• Support procurement for assigned packages, including technical scope development, equipment selection, clarification of technical requirements, and vendor/OEM technical bid evaluations.
• Support field implementation in the operating plant by responding to technical queries, reviewing RFIs, submittals, and field/design change requests, and resolving field engineering and constructability issues.
• Work directly with contractors in the field, including working through technical, cost, and constructability issues as they arise.
• Coordinate consultant and contractor interfaces during execution so engineering requirements are communicated and implemented.
• Support assigned packages through construction, commissioning, turnover to operations and maintenance, documentation, and closeout, including QA/QC activities such as inspections, NCR reviews, and ITP input.

Project controls, stakeholders, and governance

• Coordinate with internal and external stakeholders, including engineering, construction, operations, maintenance, procurement, environmental, project controls, consultants, and contractors.
• Monitor consultant progress and package deliverables against project schedules and requirements.
• Work with Project Controls to monitor scope, schedule, cost, progress, risks, changes, and key deliverables for assigned packages.
• Participate in value engineering, risk assessments, and technical reviews to identify opportunities, constraints, missing information, design conflicts, and project risks.
• Ensure assigned work complies with applicable regulations, project standards, engineering best practices, and site health and safety requirements.
• Maintain regular communication with the Lead Mechanical Project Engineer on package status, technical decisions, risks, and execution challenges, and escalate significant issues for collaborative resolution.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering.
• Valid Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) designation in Canada. Registration may be held in Ontario or another Canadian province.
• Approximately 8–10 years of relevant engineering and project experience, ideally at an intermediate-to-senior Project Engineer level.
• Mining industry experience, including direct, hands-on mechanical engineering experience delivering upgrades or modifications to existing equipment inside an operating mine process plant (mill, concentrator, crushing plant, refinery, or smelter).
• A track record of specific mechanical upgrades completed in an operating process plant, with the ability to describe the equipment involved and how operational, maintenance, and construction constraints were addressed.
• Experience evaluating and selecting mechanical equipment for mineral processing applications, including assessing consultant and OEM proposals against site requirements.
• Experience working directly with operations and maintenance teams in an operating plant, and developing mechanical solutions that can be implemented while the plant is running (tie-ins, shutdowns, staged installation).
• Field implementation experience on brownfield process-plant projects, including coordinating contractors and resolving technical, cost, and constructability issues on site.
• Strong experience coordinating engineering consultants on multidisciplinary capital projects.
• Demonstrated experience reviewing consultant-produced mechanical drawings, specifications, calculations, datasheets, P&IDs, scopes of work, and technical documentation.
• Experience developing and reviewing mechanical concepts for equipment such as pumps, piping systems, material handling equipment, HVAC, tanks, and process-support utilities.
• Strong understanding of constructability and the ability to review designs from a practical construction, access, and maintenance perspective.
• Experience preparing Scopes of Work (SOWs) for engineering and/or construction packages.
• Experience carrying mechanical packages through engineering, procurement, construction support, commissioning, and closeout.
• Experience coordinating with multidisciplinary stakeholders, including engineering, construction, operations, maintenance, procurement, project controls, consultants, and contractors.
• Working knowledge of project scope, schedule, cost, risk, change management, and engineering deliverable management.
• Strong technical judgment, communication, coordination, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to independently manage assigned packages within the direction and governance set by the Lead Mechanical Project Engineer, in a multidisciplinary Capital Projects environment.

Preferred Experience

• Gold mining experience, particularly with gold-processing equipment (crushing, grinding, gravity, leach/CIL/CIP, carbon handling, refining).
• Site-based or owner's-team engineering experience at an operating mine, in addition to any consulting background.
• Mining process plant construction, expansion, or sustaining capital projects.
• Shutdown and outage planning for mechanical work in a process plant.
• Mine infrastructure and site mechanical works.
• Experience with conveyors, shaker screens, paste plant systems, and related heavy industrial mechanical equipment.
• Experience working with EPC/EPCM organizations and engineering consultants.
• Experience working at operating or remote mine sites.
• Familiarity with AutoCAD, Inventor, Navisworks, and other relevant engineering/design review software.

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