Key tasks

• Apply physical and chemical methods to separate and concentrate valuable minerals and metals from ores
• Produce crude, refined or alloyed metal for market
• Apply chemical, metallurgical and process engineering fundamentals to solve problems or improve existing processes
• Manage process automation, process control and metallurgical plant performance
• Develop process flowsheets and metallurgical plant design
• Improve environmental performance of metallurgical operations and meet all environmental standards

Skills and attributes

• Data collection and analysis
• Problem solving and critical thinking
• Working as part of a multidisciplinary team
• Understanding chemical processes
• Project planning and management

A typical day

• The diverse nature of metallurgy means variety is the norm. On-site metallurgists may be involved in project planning, contractor meetings, equipment monitoring and much more.

Role types

• Production Metallurgist: Extract metal or minerals from ores to produce saleable metals or concentrates.
• Hydrometallurgist: Treat ores through low temperature refining and techniques such as leaching, solvent extraction and electrolytic processes.
• Pyrometallurgist: Develop high temperature heat-based processes to concentrate, extract, refine and process metals and other materials.
• Electrochemical Metallurgist: Develop processes that take place in some form of electrolytic cell, including electrowinning, electro-refining and fused salt electrolysis.
• Geometallurgist: Combine geology or geostatistics with extractive metallurgy to create spatially or geologically-based predictive models for mineral processing plants.
• Foundry Metallurgist: Melt, alloy, pour and cast metals with specific material form and characteristics such as material strength, permeability, hardness and chemical composition.
• Consulting Metallurgist: Work on a variety of processes, plants and ores; specialise in certain processes or metals/minerals and provide certain specific technical information to operations.
• Process Engineer: design and construct processing plants; complete or coordinate metallurgical testing of ores to identify the best method for processing and establish equipment criteria for plants.
• Research Metallurgist: Work in universities or research centres and investigate why and how metallurgical processes behave the way they do or are the way they are.
• Materials Engineer: Investigate the properties of metals and other materials and develop and assess their commercial and engineering applications.

Nature of work

• Work can be residential, fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) or drive-in, drive-out (DIDO)
• Rosters and hours will vary accordingly

Travel

• Expect some travel, particularly to sites in remote areas
• Metallurgists with good experience can find work opportunities overseas