Senior Metallurgist
Gold Mining Industry — Process Plant / Metallurgical Operations
Sector Gold Mining — Process Plant / Metallurgical Operations
Location Site-based, Indonesia (rotation) with occasional Jakarta HQ coordination
Level Senior (8+ years gold processing metallurgy experience)
Employment Type Full-time / Contract (per mandate terms)
Role Purpose
The Senior Metallurgist is responsible for metallurgical accounting, process troubleshooting, and performance optimization across the gold processing circuit (CIL/CIP, elution, gravity recovery, and associated reagent systems). The role is the technical authority on recovery performance, reagent efficiency, and metallurgical risk, working closely with the Process Plant Manager, Mine Geology, Maintenance, and Laboratory teams to protect gold recovery, control processing costs, and mentor junior metallurgical staff.
Key Responsibilities
- Oversee daily metallurgical accounting — mass balance, gold recovery calculations, and grade
reconciliation — across the CIL/CIP plant. - Optimize reagent consumption (cyanide, lime, activated carbon, flocculant) to balance processing cost against recovery targets.
- Design and conduct plant metallurgical testwork (bottle roll tests, cyanide leach optimization, carbon
adsorption isotherms) to diagnose and correct recovery losses. - Lead root-cause investigations into recovery shortfalls, elution/regeneration inefficiencies, and tailings gold losses.
- Develop and monitor metallurgical KPIs (recovery %, reagent consumption per tonne, carbon activity, throughput) and report findings to the Plant Manager / Process Superintendent.
- Support commissioning and ramp-up of new or expanded metallurgical circuits, including CIL, elution, and gravity recovery systems.
- Mentor and coach junior metallurgists and plant metallurgy technicians on process fundamentals and troubleshooting method.
- Ensure metallurgical operations comply with environmental, HSE, and International Cyanide Management Code (ICMC) standards.
- Coordinate cross-functionally with Mine Geology on ore variability, Maintenance on plant reliability, and the Laboratory on assay QA/QC.
- Support annual budget planning for metallurgical and process consumables.
Candidate Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical/Extractive Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related field; a
Master’s degree is preferred but not mandatory. - Minimum 8 years of experience in gold processing metallurgy, including at least 3 years in a senior or supervisory metallurgist capacity.
- Deep, hands-on knowledge of CIL/CIP circuits, elution/regeneration, gravity gold recovery, and cyanide leaching chemistry.
- Demonstrated experience in metallurgical accounting and mass balance reconciliation.
- Strong analytical and root-cause troubleshooting skills applied to plant performance and recovery issues.
- Experience with International Cyanide Management Code (ICMC) compliance is highly preferred.
- Familiarity with plant control/SCADA data and metallurgical reporting tools (e.g. LIMS, PI, Excel-based metallurgical models).
- Willingness to work on remote site rotation (Indonesian mining regions).
- Fluent in Bahasa Indonesia; working proficiency in English (written and spoken) required for reporting to international stakeholders.
Preferred Certifications
- POM/POP or AK3U (Indonesian mining safety supervisory certifications) — advantageous if the role
involves site safety coordination. - Certified Professional Metallurgist status or AusIMM membership (or equivalent professional body) — advantageous, not mandatory.
- ICMC internal auditor certification — advantageous.
Key Success Indicators
- Gold recovery % achieved against budget/design targets.
- Reagent consumption efficiency, measured in cost per tonne processed and cost per ounce recovered.
- Accuracy and timeliness of metallurgical accounting reports.
- Reduction in unplanned metallurgical downtime and process-related recovery losses.
- Effective mentorship and demonstrable development of junior metallurgical staff