This is the title of a Keynote address by Mark Benz, President, MRB Business Services (Canada), available in the Proceedings of ALTA 2017 Nickel-Cobalt-Copper Sessions. That paper is now available as a free download from the Alta Metallurgical website www.altamet.com.au

The feedstocks for ore beneficiation and subsequent extraction and recovery of metals have always had at least some unique and variable characteristics. Therefore the development and selection of a given project’s extractive metallurgy, and its implementation, operation and optimisation are often critical to the project’s success. Today, untapped orebodies are declining in grade demanding increased scale to maintain economics. These same resources are increasing in complexity and are often remote from developed industrial infrastructure and workforces.

Worker and process safety, sustainability, environmental and local stakeholders’ demands are rising. Yet the prices of process inputs and recovered metals continue to be volatile. Hence, the required sophistication and robustness of all aspects of project execution and operation have substantially increased and the deployed extractive metallurgical technology is no exception.

Successful development, selection, implementation and operation of extractive metallurgical technologies requires skilful and experienced scientists, engineers, practitioners and management throughout the life of the project. Unfortunately this key element, process expertise, is often characterised and managed as a series of cost and/or headcount budget items, rather than what it really is – an investment in the risk management of the enterprise.

From a hydrometallurgical perspective, this paper:

• Outlines the attributes, origin and development of process technology staff

• Addresses challenges and strategies to effectively source, deploy, train, maintain and manage the process expertise required throughout the life of a mining and metals venture

• Presents cost/benefit examples.