Lead Metallurgist / Mineral Processing Engineer (Canada or Australia)

We are searching for a high agency and highly experienced Lead Metallurgist / Mineral Processing Engineer to join our Technical Services team. We are looking for someone with familiarity of geometallurgy and some knowledge of resource modelling to oversee all aspects of mineral resource evaluation, including auditing of data analysis, geometallurgical block models and ensuring quality control. You will provide input into the development and implementation of the Stratum Machine Learning technology to ensure accurate and reliable geometallurgical models are generated.

The role requires a proficient understanding of geometallurgical concepts for a variety of block models. Much of your day-to-day work will be focused on evaluating the clients existing kriging models, the newly generated Stratum models as well as liaising with the Business Development team to determine how our technology can add value to a client's mining operations. You will collaborate closely with our co-founders, Chief Geologist and Lead Resource Geologist to ensure Stratum’s goals are aligned.

This is a remote-first position, with a preference for applicants based in Australia or Canada.

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StratumAI & the ML/AI Technical Services team

StratumAI creates advanced geometallurgical and mineral resource block models that empower operating mining companies to make smarter, more efficient decisions for mine planning and ore control. We using proprietary algorithms adapted for neural networks, to produce 3D models that are significantly more accurate than traditional Kriging models. This enable enhanced target drilling, blast hole optimisation, ore type categorisation and mineral processing routing / blending to optimise added value opportunities for the client.

Our long-term vision is to build a ML/AI engine capable of modelling many of the critical decision within a mining operation. We are looking for highly competent resource geologist to help make this vision a reality.

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Job Responsibilities

• Technical leadership:

  • Lead an expanding metallurgical team, providing expertise on mineral processing methodologies, and ensuring the quality control of all geometallurgical models.

• Geometallurgy modeling:

  • Audit the clients geometallurgy (Kriging) models and Stratum’s newly generated Stratum models.

• Data analysis:

  • Assist in the audit and analysis of complex mine site databases, focussed on the measured geometallurgical parameters and report on potential issues with the data and the client’s conclusion.

• Mine planning and Mineral Processing:

  • Collaborating with Stratum’s ML engineers and the clients mine planners and metallurgists / Mineral process engineers to ensure optimisation of the models.

• Business Development:

  • Provide input technical input to enhance the sales team’s capabilities.

• Audit and Quality control:

  • Implementing rigorous audit and quality control procedures for clients data, new collection procedure (if required) and the Stratum resource models to ensure model accuracy and reliability.

• Regulatory compliance:

  • Ensuring adherence to all relevant mining regulations regarding ore reserve reporting and disclosure.

• Project reporting:

  • Assist in the preparation of technical reports and presentations.

• Mentorship and training:

  • Providing guidance and training to more junior metallurgists / mineral process engineers and geometallurgists within the developing team.

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Job Requirements

• Tertiary qualification in Metallurgy or Mineral Process Engineering.

• A broad understanding of Mineral Process Engineering with experience with mill circuits (comminution), flotation and heap leach (copper or gold) operations,

• Extensive experience experience in mineral processing including evaluation of third party operations (>20years). working in both open pit and underground mining environments.

• Extensive knowledge of copper and gold deposit types; ideally including one or more of ferrous, phosphate and critical metal / mineral deposits types in Australia or Canada.

• An understanding of geometallurgy models with respect to orebody / deposit knowledge.

• Detailed knowledge / interest in machine learning (ML) and data sciences as applied to the mineral processing sector of the mining industry.

• Knowledge of mineral resource modelling software platforms and data analysis tools.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

• Excellent communication and presentation skills to convey complex geometallurgical concepts to diverse audiences.

• Familiarity with mining regulations and reporting standards in Australia (JORC) and Canada (NI43-101).

• Leadership qualities to manage a growing team of metallurgists / mineral processing engineers.

• An open motor vehicle driving licence.

• No criminal convictions that will restrict international travel; e.g. ESTA (US) & eTA (Canada).

• Ability and willingness to travel up to 20% of the time.

• Ability to work in remote mine sites with significant diversity.

• No restrictions on the wearing of standard mine PPE (Personal Protective Equipment).

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Nice To Have

• CP/QP for multiple copper or gold deposit types commonly found in Australia or Canada.

• Technical proficiency in another language.

• Worked for a start-up or mining consultancy group.

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About Stratum

We're Stratum, a mining software company with machine learning models as our core product. Our 3D maps predict how gold, silver, copper, etc. are distributed (and how much!) using only small amounts of data, unconventional data processing, and proprietary ML protocols. Our work directly affects how much money a mine is going to make next week/month/year while reducing waste/cost. We're supported by Founders Fund, Aramco, Builders VC, Y Combinator, and Ilya Sutskever, former Chief Scientist at OpenAI, who have recognized the potential of our industry-disrupting technology.

Our long-term vision is to build a massive AI engine capable of making every decision in a mining operation, down to moving individual rocks. If you’re an exceptional engineer interested to helping make this vision a reality we look forward to reviewing your application and working together.

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