Principle Process Engineer

SUMMARY:
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POSITION INFO:

Lead Process Engineer – Cape Town

Duties

• Ensure that Process Engineering activities are conducted to the highest quality, ethical and in line with Company, Client and regulatory requirement.
• Establish design standards in areas of expertise for the process team.
• Coordinate the resources necessary to ensure that studies are completed on time, on budget and to the appropriate standard.
• Work collaboratively with personnel across all business units.
• Ensure overall process deliverables are achieved to a consistently high standard. Respond immediately to change to ensure projects are completed on time in accordance with the contractual scope of work and services.
• Utilise project reporting requirements in accordance with Company and Client standards to a high level of accuracy and professionalism.
• Responsible and accountable for all Process design functions carried out on designated Projects, whether handled personally or delegated to subordinate staff members.
• Deliver best practice process designs in accordance with project time, budget and technical requirements.
• Prepare and review study documents adhering to Company policies and procedures to a high level of accuracy and professionalism.
• Analyse data and its relationship to the process design.
• Manage the process components of scoping, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies to ensure they are correct and thorough, appropriate to the study phase.
• Carry out peer reviews of particular designs.
• Actively solicit new business and assist with established client maintenance.
• Suggest methods to improve operational efficiency within the Process Engineering team.
• Work in conjunction with a range of internal and external stakeholders to meet project design work criteria and deliverables.
• Develop and contribute to the delivery of improvement initiatives which support business priorities for continuous improvement.
• Contribute to engineers in training professional development by providing consistent mentoring and identify avenues of development.
• Proactively support other team members as required to ensure Project deliverables are met.
• Ensure a high level of communication is attained within the Process Engineering group.
• Provide leadership, guidance and direction to the Process Engineering group as required.
• Travel on an ad-hoc basis to suit the needs of the business and its operations.

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in Metallurgy, Chemical Engineering or equivalent qualification.
• A minimum of 15+ years of experience in mineral processing and/or related industries and post graduate experience.
• Mix of process plant operations and project development roles, within mining companies, and contract engineering organisations.
• South African Citizen or Permanent Resident
• Cape Town based (or willing to relocate)

Commodity:

• Gold and silver – free milling and refractory ores.
• Platinum group metals and chrome.
• Uranium
• Base metals (copper/lead/zinc/nickel/cobalt) – sulphides in particular, and oxides.
• Battery minerals (graphite/lithium).
• Iron ore (haematite/magnetite).
• Mineral sands (ilmenite/rutile/zircon/monatize).
• Industrial minerals (limestone/barite/talc/gypsum/potash/phosphates/etc).

Unit Process Focus:

• Comminution – crushing and screening, HPGR, milling (SAG, ball, rod, attrition) and classification.
• Ore preconcentration – DMS, machine sorting.
• Gravity separation – spirals, centrifugal bowl, tables, jigs.
• Froth flotation – including alternative equipment technologies – Jamieson, Woodgrove, Concorde, etc.
• Electrostatic separation.
• Magnetic separation
• Dewatering – thickening, filtration, centrifuging.
• Hydrometallurgical operations – leaching, carbon adsorption/desorption, solvent extraction, ion exchange, electrowinning.
• Refractory ore processing – roasting, pressure oxidation, Biox®, ultrafine grinding, Albion process.
• Heat exchange – process heating and cooling, crystallisers, dryers.
• Process plant instrumentation and control philosophy.
• Interpretation of mineralogical and metallurgical test work results.

Process Simulation/Digital:

• IDEAS or similar software.
• Digital twinning.
• Scenario modelling.
• Solid technical aptitude, analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Build and sustain positive relationships with all stakeholders, including clients, vendors and co-workers.
• Ability to work with people at all levels within an organisation and external providers.
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to multitask and prioritise to a high standard of accuracy and professionalism.
• Ability to work effectively with minimal supervision whilst consistently producing a high quality of deliverables.
• Personal qualities of integrity, credibility and commitment.
• Demonstrate a strict practice of confidentiality, personal responsibility and discretion.
• Exemplify and encourage the core values and ethos of the business.
• Provide mentoring and identify avenues of professional development and succession planning for personnel within your group.
• Intuitive leader with the ability to initiate, lead and manage change in a complex environment.
• Capacity to delegate appropriately.
• Capacity to evaluate work practices, implement systems and suggest alternatives and refinements where necessary.
• Demonstrated ability to achieve consistently high standards within both budgetary and schedule constraints.
• Well-developed business acumen with the ability to adapt to different business environments.
• High attention to detail and exceptional knowledge of contract law and contract document requirements.
• Ability to travel on an ad-hoc basis to suit the needs of the business and its operations.
• High degree of professional ethics.
• Highly developed negotiation, influencing, analytical and problem resolution skills.