Metallurgical Engineer

The Metallurgical Engineer provides metallurgical expertise at a 1,000+ ton per day Lead-Zinc-Silver surface mill to develop, maintain and continuously improve upon the operation.

Job duties include:

Oversees all metallurgical aspects of milling operations

• Grinding, flotation, reagents, de-watering, tailings and water treatment
• XRF analysis system
• On Stream Analyzer (OSA)
• Metallurgical reports

The Mill is highly instrumented and the metallurgists also work with PLC based:

• Graphic operator interfaces
• Process data storage, retrieval, trending and on-line mass balancing
• Expert; advisory and supervisory control systems.
• Modeling software

• Consults with Mill Superintendent, Mill Foreman, and Mill Supervisors to identify problems associated with Milling procedures and processes and solutions to resolve them. 
• Manages concentrate freight contractor and coordinates with smelter on concentrate quality and deliveries.
• Diagnoses complex equipment or process malfunctions, production, or test problems, plans and carries out corrective action or directs operators in correcting problems. 
• Analyzes operating data and makes recommendations or prepares reports regarding upgrading current milling methods or procedures, utilization, and types of equipment, etc. 
• Ensures analyzers and sampling systems are maintained and calibrated to provide optimum process and quality control. 
• May advise operations personnel on process changes, reagent consumption, water, and air adjustments, etc., to obtain desire process. 
• Interprets and evaluates experimental, test, and other data and prepares reports and recommendations based on evaluations. 
• Investigates methods of improving metallurgical processes to extract silver, lead, and zinc. 
• Directs and coordinates the work of Metallurgical Engineers, Mill Technicians or other workers engaged in various aspects of technical assignments. 
• Coordinates recovery of samples from various stages of processing for lab analysis. 
• Initiates work orders for repairs or maintenance on process control systems. 
• Uses bench scale, pilot scale and plant scale testing or analysis of plant data to investigate, develop, refine, and improve the metallurgical and materials balance flow sheets. 
• Remains current on metallurgical and processing developments in the areas of complex massive sulfides, collaborates with internal and external resources, and ensures the mine is informed and led on a technologically superior basis. 

Minimum qualifications include: 

• Bachelor of Science Degree in Metallurgical Engineering or a related field. 
• Prior experience at a Silver-Lead-Zinc Concentrator preferred. 
• Advanced computer skills involving Excel and data bases, and the programming and understanding of computer-controlled instrumentation is preferred.