Rafael Odorizzi

Personal & career background

Born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, I now live in Brisbane, Australia. Outside work, I enjoy Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, cooking and travelling. I enjoy learning, solving problems and experiencing new cultures. I graduated in Mining Engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in 2018. My first professional role was as a Mining Consultant at Datamine Brazil, where I supported iron ore, gold, copper and bauxite operations with mine design and short-, medium- and long-term planning.  That experience is still directly connected to my work today because it taught me how to understand each client’s planning challenges and translate technical requirements into practical software workflows and solutions.

Challenges, projects & learnings 

Can you describe one specific project you delivered thatrelated with your role in Datamine which best represents your expertise? 

One project that best represents my expertise was a pit optimization and life-of-mine (LOM) pit design project for a major mining company in Brazil. The project involved developing multiple optimization scenarios and practical pit designs to support long-term planning, scenario evaluation and strategic decision-making. It combined economic optimization with practical mine design, demonstrating how planning software can be applied to real operational challenges.

 What was your role in the project?

As a Mining Consultant, I was responsible for developing and reviewing the pit optimization results and producing the life-of-mine pit designs and associated planning outputs. I was directly involved in assessing different scenarios, interpreting the optimization results and translating the selected outputs into practical, mineable pit designs. I also had to validate the designs against the planning requirements and ensure the final deliverables were consistent and useful for this major mining company in Brazil’s long-term planning team. 

What made this project challenging?

The main challenge was converting multiple optimization outputs into practical pit designs while maintaining consistency across all the long-term planning deliverables. An optimized result may be economically attractive, but it still needs to account for operational constraints and be converted into a realistic mine design. Whenever an output could not be translated into a workable design, the assumptions and approach had to be reviewed rather than simply accepting the software result. The most valuable lesson was that optimization is a decision-support process, not the final answer. Reliable outcomes require good inputs, engineering judgement, consistent assumptions and strong communication with the client. 

How did the project improve the client’s or operation’s way of working?

The project provided this major mining company in Brazil’s long-term planning team with a structured set of optimization scenarios and practical pit designs that could be compared and evaluated consistently. This improved decision-making by creating a clearer connection between economic optimization and practical mine design. It also strengthened planning discipline by providing traceable and consistent outputs that could be used as the basis for life-of-mine planning and future scenario assessments. 

How does this project experience influence the way you support Datamine customers today?

This project taught me to look beyond the software output and understand how the result will be used by the planning and operational teams. My later experience in short-term planning at Anglo American strengthened this approach. As a Short-Term Technical Services Coordinator, I managed the team’s daily planning tasks and communicated closely with production. Short-term planners often work as “firefighters,” responding to unexpected issues that can affect planned deliverables and operational targets.

Together, these experiences help me understand the pressures, limitations and practical challenges faced by mining sites. Today, I use that knowledge to provide Datamine customers with realistic advice, anticipate potential problems and help them implement workflows that support both strategic planning and day-to-day execution.