Technical Specialist: Mining

The Technical Specialist: Mining is responsible for ensuring that infrastructure investments in the mining sector are

technically sound, environmentally sustainable, socially responsible, and financially viable. This role blends sector expertise

with financial acumen to support loan origination, due diligence, and portfolio management. In addition, provide expert

technical guidance and sector-specific insights to support the development, appraisal, and monitoring of mining projects

financed and/or delivered by the DBSA. The aim is to enhance the quality, sustainability, and impact of investments in the

sector, ensuring alignment with the institution's development mandate.

Key Performance Areas:

Technical Advisory and Expertise

• Provide expert technical support and apply advanced sector knowledge to develop innovative, practical solutions
  
  analysis and implementation support for projects and initiatives.
• Stay current on emerging technologies, policy developments, and global best practices to ensure cutting-edge
  
  insights and continuous improvement in project delivery.
• Diagnose complex sector challenges and identify opportunities, designing context-appropriate, sustainable, and
  
  cost-effective solutions to support project preparation and implementation.
• Promote institutional learning by leading or contributing to training sessions, technical consultations, and
  
  knowledge-sharing initiatives with internal teams and external stakeholders.
• Drive technical excellence and innovation in the sector, reinforcing the Bank's position as a leader in sustainable
  
  and resilient infrastructure development.
• Collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary teams and stakeholders to gather insights, build consensus, and
  
  ensure technical alignment across project stages.

Investments and Programmes

• Conduct rigorous technical due diligence on infrastructure transactions applying strategic thinking and innovative
  
  approaches to deliver value to both the client and the DBSA.
• Enhance the bankability of transactions by identifying and mitigating technical and sector specific risks, working
  
  collaboratively with Credit Risk, Country Risk Officers, and other relevant units across the Bank.
• Support the preparation of potential investments by delivering innovative and sustainable infrastructure solutions
  
  that inform project scoping, feasibility studies, and business planning.
• Conceptualise and contribute to the design of new products and services aligned with DBSA mandate and
  
  proactively identifying and guiding the DBSA toward emerging sector opportunities.
• Assess the sector impact of proposed DBSA investment transactions across South Africa the African region,
  
  including:
  
  o Appraising the macro macro and sector-specific market environment.
  
  o Assessing the impact of sectoral policy, legislation, strategy, and tariff regimes
  
  o Analysing sector risks and developing appropriate mitigation measures
  
  o Demonstrating the economic rationale of projects through demand/supply analysis and cost-benefit
  
  assessments.
  
  o Validating the technical feasibility / assumptions and projections including design assumptions, technology
  
  options, operations, and maintenance plans
  
  o Providing structuring recommendations to support investment approvals by internal decision-making
  
  committees.
  
  o Developing sector-specific conditions to be embedded with investment structures.
• Monitor and evaluate the sectoral outcomes and impact of DBSA's mining investment portfolio.
• Track compliance within agreed sector conditionalities and mitigation measures, recommending timely corrective
  
  actions in cases of deviation or underperformance.

Sector Governance

• Present sector research findings on business and product development, sector targets, and investment strategies
  
  to the Investment Committee and Board of Directors.
• Develop, implement, and review sector strategies, guidelines, and technical frameworks to embed Generally
  
  Accepted Industry Practice (GIIP) in DBSA investment decision making.

Clients, Governments and Finance Partnerships

• Provide credible sectoral advice to the DBSA, its clients and sector role players including private and public sector
  
  investors, businesses, and client-country governments
• Influence relevant sectoral investment decision making structures including DBSA, national government, SOCs,
  
  sector fora, Regional Economic Communities (e.g. SADC, IIPSA) to enhance sectoral infrastructure investments.
• Interface with finance partners locally, regionally, and internationally to catalyse sustainable financing, align and
  
  incorporate GIIP, the Sustainable Development Goals and global, regional, and local sector policy frameworks into
  
  DBSA operations and investment decision making.
• Build strong relationships with key stakeholders to align expectations and gather insights and ensure successful
  
  engagements.

Innovation and Continuous Improvement

• Champion innovation and fostering a culture of continuous improvement within their area of expertise.
• Identify opportunities to enhance processes, products, or services, leveraging technical knowledge, creativity, and
  
  industry insights.
• Explore and implement cutting-edge technologies or methodologies to drive efficiency, quality, and value for the
  
  organisation.
• Facilitate idea generation promoting a collaborative environment where innovative solutions can flourish.
• Develop the organisation's competitive edge and adapt to evolving market demands within the sector.

Reporting and Analytics

• Prepare and present high-quality, data-driven technical reports, assessments, and recommendations to support
  
  decision-making, anticipate risks, and enhance project outcomes.
• Analyse complex data and deliver accurate, stakeholder-focused reports with clear, actionable insights and
  
  visualisations.
• Identify trends, anomalies, and key insights that influence strategic planning and operational adjustments.

Key Measurements of Outputs:

• Number of innovative and sustainable mining financing opportunities identified and brought into the business pipeline.

• Number and quality of technically sound, bankable projects and innovative financing solutions developed for investment
  
  approval.

• Number of due diligence assignments and investment-ready projects concluded with full technical compliance.

• Percentage of the loan book aligned with priority geographies/sectors and annual investment metrics (disbursements,
  
  commitments, approvals).

• Number and quality of projects monitored and evaluated, ensuring application of Good International Industry Practice
  
  (GIIP) and lessons learned.

• Number of sector strategies, technical frameworks, knowledge products, and partnerships developed to inform
  
  investment decisions and strengthen sector impact.

Qualifications and Experience:

Qualification

• Bachelor's degree in Mining Engineering, Geology, Metallurgy, Mineral Processing, or a related field.

Experience

• Minimum of 10 years' mining sector experience in structuring and preparing investment-ready infrastructure projects,
  
  ideally within development finance, commercial banking, or infrastructure advisory environment.
• Proven track record in infrastructure finance and investment, including work on public-private partnerships (PPPs) and
  
  transaction advisory services for large-scale mining projects.
• Strong professional network and extensive relationships with senior stakeholders in the mining sector across South
  
  Africa and the wider African continent.
• Sound understanding of critical development challenges and opportunities across the mining value chain, including
  
  service delivery models, regulatory frameworks, and climate resilience.
• In-depth knowledge of sustainable development principles, particularly as they relate to infrastructure financing, climate
  
  adaptation, and inclusive service delivery.
• Experience in designing technical and financial solutions to enable deal closure and mobilise private or blended finance.

Desirable

• Postgraduate qualification in a relevant field such as Engineering, Finance, Economics, Development Studies,
  
  Sustainable Development, Infrastructure Planning, or an MBA.
• Professional registration with a recognized engineering or sectoral professional body (e.g., ECSA).

Technical Competencies:

Sector Expertise

• Demonstrates global thought leadership, including speaking at international conferences, sharing work via
  
  knowledge management, documenting business cases, white papers, and articles.
• Understands dynamics of other sectors and uses that knowledge to draw comparisons and insights about the
  
  given sector.
• Foresees trends in the given sector industry at a global level and actively communicates/publishes opinions
  
  and insights.
• Understands sector industry dynamics, trends and key players at the global level and uses that knowledge to
  
  position DBSA as an economic policies authority of repute within the global market.

Business Acumen

• Takes actions to fit business strategy.
• Assesses and links short-term tasks in the context of long-term business strategies or perspectives.
• Reviews own actions against the organisation's strategic plan; includes the big picture when considering
  
  possible opportunities or projects or thinks about long-term applications of current activities.
• Anticipates possible responses to different initiatives.
• Understands the projected direction of the industry and how changes might impact the organisation.

Project Management

• Seasoned ability to plan, initiate, execute, control and close projects aligned to DBSA sustainable infrastructure
  
  investment mandate.
• Translates business objectives into practical, prioritised and organised action plans; ensures plans are safely
  
  and successfully implemented.
• Makes effective use of resources when executing; ensures processes are in place to achieve outcomes aligned
  
  to operational excellence standards.
• Risk Identification & Assessment skills
• Advises on applicable aspects of risk identification and assessments
• Assesses and links short-term tasks in the context of long-term business strategies or perspectives.

Financial Acumen

• Makes sound financial decisions after having analysed their impacts on the organisation, partner agencies,
  
  and community.
• Knows the internal and external factors that impact on resource and asset availability.
• Is able to interpret management account reports in an operational/commercial context and take action as
  
  appropriate to maximise sustainable development outcomes, revenues, and control costs.

Business Development

• Takes overall lead for pro-active business development at national and regional level.
• Initiates, reviews, and interprets competitor environment reviews and take actions accordingly.
• Formulates and modify market approaches on the basis of competitor analyses.
• Leads the formulation, development, and implementation of the business development strategy to generate
  
  new business opportunities in public and private sector delivery of infrastructure.
• Identifies and develop new markets, products, and clients.
• Positions the DBSA as the preferred development partner, lender, and advisor.
• Leads the participation and presentation of the DBSA at investment conferences and roundtable
  
  discussions.
• Coordinates business activities to ensure that investment initiatives are in support of government BEE
  
  strategies, broader national and regional economic development strategies.
• Promote compliance and alignment with the strategic imperatives of both individual clients and the DBSA of
  
  investment and development interventions.
• Builds capacity to coordinate, control and manage the activities and efforts required for the implementation of
  
  the plan.
• Builds capacity to conduct project origination exercises.

Analytical Ability

• Ability to propose solutions to support investment through analysis and solutioning.
• Thorough and in-depth understanding of the business environment, reviews outputs of analysis to identify
  
  anomalies and draw conclusions, and able to relate these to operational circumstances.
• High level of skill in the use of advanced/complex analytical techniques and able to use judgement to decide
  
  upon the most appropriate analytical techniques to solution according to the situation.
• Proven ability to apply relevant estimating techniques, tools and models covering all potential business
  
  circumstances (such as cost benefit analysis) and highlight potential risks/opportunities.
• Able to translate findings into reports and present findings to key stakeholders.

Leadership/Behavioural Competencies:

Customer Service Orientation

• Tries to understand the underlying needs of customers and matches these needs to available or customised
  
  products and services.
• Adapts processes and procedures to meet on-going customer needs.
• Utilises the feedback received by customers, in order to develop new and/or improve existing services/ products
  
  that relate to their on-going needs.
• Thinks of new ways to align DBSA's offerings with future customer needs.

Strategic and Innovative Thinking

• Experiments with new approaches, tests scenarios, questions assumptions and challenges conventional
  
  thinking.
• Creates new concepts that are not obvious to others, leveraging internal and external sources of information,
  
  to build incremental revenue and growth opportunities.

Driving Delivery of Results

• Sets challenging goals that will have a significant impact on the business or support the organisational
  
  strategy.
• Commits significant resources and/or time to ensure that challenging goals are achieved, while also taking
  
  action to mitigate risk.

Organisational Awareness

• Recognises unspoken organisational limitations, what is and is not possible at certain times or in certain
  
  positions.
• Recognises and/or uses the corporate culture (language, etc.) that will produce the best response.
• Recognises and/or uses ongoing power and political relationships within the organisation (alliances, rivalries)
  
  with a clear sense of organisational impact.

Impact and Influence

• Adapts a presentation or discussion to appeal to the interest and level of others.
• Anticipates and prepares for others' reactions.

Teamwork and Cooperation

• Acts to promote a friendly climate and good morale and resolves conflicts.
• Creates opportunities for cross-functional working.
• Encourages others to network outside of their own team/department and learn from their experience.