Principle Process Engineer

SET Recruitment Consultants; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 800,000 - 1,000,000; Full time

Job summary

A recruitment consultancy is seeking a Lead Process Engineer in Cape Town. The role involves ensuring high-quality process engineering, coordinating resources, and delivering best practices in design. Candidates should have over 15 years in mineral processing, hold a relevant degree, and be a South African citizen or permanent resident. This position offers opportunities for leadership and professional development.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in mineral processing or related industries.
• Experience in both process plant operations and project development.
• Citizen or Permanent Resident of South Africa, Cape Town based or willing to relocate.

Responsibilities

• Ensure quality Process Engineering activities per standards.
• Coordinate resources to meet project deadlines and budgets.
• Deliver best practice process designs.

Skills

Process design

Project management

Analytical skills

Leadership

Education

University degree in Metallurgy or Chemical Engineering

Tools

IDEAS or similar software

Job description

Lead Process Engineer – Cape Town

Responsibilities

• 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.

Additional capabilities and expectations:

• 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.