Hi COSA community,
The Colorado State Land Board is seeking an intern to join our resource extraction team this summer.
Click here or read below:
Resource Extraction Intern
Colorado State Board of Land Commissioners
Do you know the difference between a pump jack and a jumping jack? Cone crusher and dog musher? A roustabout and the “twist and shout”? Do you want to be part of Colorado’s tradition of funding public schools with mineral royalties? Then we want you!
The Colorado State Land Board is looking for a minerals team intern to join our Resource Extraction team. You’ll use your knowledge of geology, mining, oil and gas exploration, commodity markets, Colorado geography, street smarts, and outdoor survival skills to help our 4-person team earn income from the development of state-owned mineral estate. On any given day you might be auditing operators for lease compliance, recording important data in complex spreadsheets, researching and writing reports on what industry is doing to capture carbon emissions,or visiting a drilling rig or mine site to assist in an inspection.
What is the State Land Board?
The State Land Board is a constitutionally created agency that manages a $4 billion endowment of assets for the intergenerational benefit of Colorado’s K-12 schoolchildren and public institutions. The agency is the second-largest landowner in Colorado (after the federal government) and generates revenue on behalf of beneficiaries by leasing nearly three million surface acres and four million subsurface acres for assorted purposes, oil, gas, and mining. Unlike public lands, trust lands are not open to the public unless a property has been leased for public access. We are entirely self-funded and receive no tax dollars.
We are a 146-year old, constitutionally-chartered agency and even though we’ve been around for a long time, we take pride in being entrepreneurial and business-savvy. We compete in private sector markets daily and generate more than $100 million in revenue annually.
What kind of mineral estate do we have and how do we manage it?
Our 4-person minerals team (plus YOU!) is responsible for overseeing four million acres of mineral estate leasing. The team generates about $100 million annually. We currently have approximately 90 solid mineral leases that generate $5.5 million annually and roughly 1,000 oil and gas leases that generate $90 million annually. While we own and lease the assets, we are not a regulatory or enforcement agency; our lessees must obtain all required local and state permits. We are also not operators; lessees are responsible for all extraction operations.
The job opportunity
This internship rocks (Yes, pun intended). You’ll gain multifaceted experience: you’ll get to work with the best employees in State government including: oil and gas and mining experts, field staff, attorneys; while also working with our lessees in the solid mineral mining and oil and gas industries. You will interface with lessee companies, and the public at-large. You will get an under-the-hood look at operations extracting a wide variety of mineral and petroleum commodities. You’ll gain 30,000-foot insights into how oil and gas, and mining industries operate, and also get your boots dirty on the ground at 5,280 feet.
Plus, your work will literally help fund Colorado public schools — and that REALLY rocks.
The internship opportunity
-
Paid summer internship.
-
The position is expected to work approximately 40 hrs/week during the summer months.
-
The work schedule is flexible but the majority of hours will occur Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Employees are expected to work in the office at 1127 Sherman Street at least 3 days per week with more time in the office during training and as needed for specific tasks and meetings.
-
The position is expected to begin around June 1, 2022, the exact start date depending on the employee’s availability.
Responsibilities:
This internship position will assist in earning income from the development of state-owned mineral estate. The intern will be supervised by the Solid Minerals Manager, though the position will split time between projects associated with Solid Minerals and Oil and Gas. Duties and responsibilities are likely to include:
-
Reviewing and auditing mineral leases to ensure Lessee compliance with lease provisions and communicating with Lessees concerning the status of their lease: including production expectations, reclamation activities, and potential new lease agreements.
-
Assisting Oil and Gas Specialist and Solid Minerals Manager with special projects and/or researching new business line opportunities. These may include: reviewing leases from other State Land agencies for useful terms and stipulations; Researching leasing for rare earth elements, lithium, helium, carbon storage, and geothermal. Research may include information on the sector’s extraction technology, lease structures, and/or environmental impacts.
-
Research and write a summary on mineral extraction lessees and determine what pledges or actions are being taken to become carbon neutral or to mitigate carbon emissions.
-
Field visits to oil, gas, and mining sites to assist with the inventory and survey of lease discrepancies.
-
Some menial tasks like scanning or electronically saving documents, it is an internship after all.
Desired Characteristics and Attributes
The chosen candidate should have an interest in oil and gas, mining, resource policy, government relations, and natural resource stewardship. The candidate should demonstrate an enthusiastic interest in supporting our agency’s long-term mission as well as the following characteristics and attributes:
-
Interest in the oil and gas, and mining industries.
-
Good written and oral communication with the ability to convey information to others effectively and efficiently.
-
Independent yet also a team player; proactively helps others. Capable of working collaboratively with other team members while working remotely.
-
Strong interpersonal skills. Customer-service mindset. Respectful toward people from all walks of life.
-
Strong problem solving skills, seeks to understand alternatives, employs logic and good judgment.
-
Self-confident and self-aware. Honest, trustworthy, dependable.
-
Enthusiastic, energetic, optimistic, positive attitude.
-
Organized and professional. Strong work ethic and positive attitude. Proactive, takes initiative, self-motivated. Excited to learn new skills.
-
Familiarity with Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Meet, etc) and Microsoft Office.
-
Experience with Oracle Netsuite a plus but not required.
Minimum Qualifications
This internship opportunity is intended for a student pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in geology, petroleum engineering, mining engineering, mineral economics, environmental science, natural resource law, land use policy, or a related field with the desire to pursue a career in mining, oil and gas, mineral policy-making, natural resource law, or related field.
Conditions of Employment
-
The selected candidate must be 18-years-old or older.
-
The selected candidate must be a U.S. Citizen or a foreign national authorized to work in the United States.
What can you expect from us in return for your hard work?
This is an excellent resume-building internship. You will have the opportunity to work on a wide-range of mining and oil and gas operations and for a state agency. We give stellar references (assuming you do a good job, and we assume you will).
Position will pay $20-25 per hour, depending on qualifications and experience.
And you can feel good knowing your work is directly supporting Colorado schools.
Apply
All applicants must comply with the following instructions in order to be considered for the intern position. Candidates who do not follow instructions may not be reviewed for the position.
-
Please email a resume and cover letter to the Solid Minerals Manager, Ben Teschner at benjamin.teschner.
-
The subject line of the email must read “Intern Applicant 2022”
-
All applications must be received prior to 11:59pm on Sunday May 1, 2022. Any received after that time will not be considered.