Metallurgist / Process Engineer - Orange, NSW

Orivium; Orange City Council; On-site; AUD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Job summary

Orivium in Orange, NSW, is seeking a Metallurgist / Process Engineer to support the build and operation of our copper leaching pilot plant. You will optimize the metallurgical process at pilot scale, document procedures, and work with engineers and suppliers to scale to commercial demonstration.

The role requires 2+ years’ hands-on copper metallurgical testing or mineral processing experience, strong problem-solving and clear communication to operators and engineers.

Qualifications

• 2+ years hands-on experience in copper metallurgical testing or mineral processing operations.
• Ability to diagnose process issues and design experiments.
• Clear communication to operators and engineers.

Responsibilities

• Optimize and troubleshoot metallurgical process at pilot scale; run experiments to improve recovery and impurity profiles.
• Develop and maintain process documentation: flowsheets, parameters, SOPs, QC protocols.
• Conduct metallurgical testing: assay feeds, monitor purity and recovery, support scale-up decisions.

Skills

Copper testing

Pilot plant

Data interpretation

Problem-solving

Communication

Job description

Metallurgist / Process Engineer- Orange, NSW

We're looking for a metallurgist / process engineer to support the build and operation of our metal leaching pilot plant in Orange, NSW. You'll work with the pilot plant manager, equipment suppliers and vendors and commercial engineering and scale-up teams. The work is hands-on, the decisions are consequential, and the feedback loop between pilot plant and commercial-scale operations planning is short.

Key responsibilities

• Optimize and troubleshoot the metallurgical process at pilot scale, running experiments to improve recovery rates, reduce impurities, minimize environmental impact, and validate capex/opex assumptions
• Develop and maintain process documentation: flowsheets, operating parameters, standard procedures, quality control protocols, and trouble-shooting guides
• Conduct metallurgical testing: assay feed material, monitor product purity and recovery, troubleshoot bottlenecks, and support scale-up decisions

About you

• 2+ years hands-on experience in copper metallurgical testing, pilot plant work, or mineral processing operations; comfort running experiments and interpreting data
• Problem-solving mindset: ability to diagnose process issues, design experiments to test hypotheses, and iterate quickly
• Communication skills: ability to explain technical results to non-specialists and document processes clearly for operators and engineers

What we offer

Top-quartile salary and benefits and a seat at the table on a technology with the potential to reshape how the world produces copper.

About us

Orivium is a deep-tech venture commercialising a novel electrochemical oxidant for copper leaching. Our Super Oxidiser unlocks chalcopyrite - the 70% of the world's copper that conventional heap leaching can't economically reach. We're now scaling from pilot to commercial demonstration, and we're building the technical team to do it.