Senior Hydrometallurgy Engineer

Company Description

SGS is the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. We are recognised as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 89,000 employees, we operate a network of more than 2,600 offices and laboratories around the world.

Job Description

Business Development/Marketing      

• Provide process engineering input to marketing and proposals by providing technical assistance to support Business Development and Marketing strategies
• Produce cost effective, conceptual & timeous proposals
• Determine customer’s requirements
• Communicate with customer and review customer’s enquiry documents and evaluate requirements and constraints
• Define the process/plant scope of work
• Produce the conceptual design and generate alternatives
• Produce and agree mass and energy balances and conceptual PFD’s
• Contribute to basic design criteria document through preliminary equipment & motor list, preliminary control criteria and major equipment & material specification

Project Life Cycle

• Provide Process engineering input to project implementation and Project set up

• Provide input to generate scope of work, schedules and budgets
• Refine scope of work, review contract and design discipline design criteria and engineering deliverables
• Define Battery limits and control and report scope variances
• Generate detail discipline schedules and review overall discipline requirements
• Contribute to procurement and identify long lead items
• Determine/prioritize work breakdown structure
• Issue data to planner
• Review/co-ordinate & adhere to schedule of implementation
• Control and report variances
• Generate and develop detail discipline budgets and identify indirect/resource costs
• Adhere to budget implementation and control and report budget variances
• Consolidate documentation for monthly project progress report
• Provide input to monthly discipline reports

• Provide feedback to functional manager

Design

• Generate the following engineering deliverables:
• Detailed mass & energy balance
• Detailed PFD’s
• Detailed equipment/motor list
• Equipment specifications
• Data Sheets (Develop & Approval)
• Operation & Control Philosophy
• Detailed functional specifications
• Write operating manual
• Generate detailed plant process guarantees
• Check and review design layouts, including vendor packages
• Adhere to schedules and budgets
• Issue, review and control final process design documentation
• Check and obtain approval of calculations and specifications
• Consult with specialists for novel or unusual designs

Client Relations (Internal & External)  

• Prepare approved vendor list and issue enquiry documents
• Perform technical and commercial adjudication
• Obtain client approval
• Participate in pre-award meetings, review quality plan and contract
• Review quality/expediting reports and witness key manufacturing hold points
• Provide technical backup for expediting team
• Proactively maintain information flow
• Attend co-ordination meetings
• Advise changes early
• Co-ordinate deliveries
• Adopt flexible approach
• Respond to needs of other disciplines
• Ensure awareness of Company vision and departmental goals/objectives

Plant commissioning  

• Produce and submit commissioning plan/manual
• Determine critical path and establish commissioning sequence/schedule
• Define and secure resources
• Define battery limits of commissioning
• Define commissioning systems/procedure
• Produce commissioning files, including commissioning documentation
• Ensure commissioning meets project requirements
• Issue remedial inspection reports during construction
• Monitor installation and commissioning checklists
• Arrange and co-ordinate commissioning meetings
• Conduct on-site commissioning
• Provide technical back-up for site QA team
• Assist in performance testing in terms of design base
• Supervise and train operating personnel
• Contribute to close-out report and adhere to close out procedures
• Provide post-commissioning process support
• Ensure plant optimization and plant operating analysis
• Ensure regular visits/communications with client

Legislation, Policies & Procedures

• Lead design reviews and Hazops
• Ensure legal compliance with design codes and authorities
• Contribute to public participation process as per National Environmental Management Act (NEMA)
• Enforce process veto rights
• Maintain standards
• Adhere to and update Company standards
• Utilize engineering tools/systems

Continuous Improvement       

• Consult with specialists for novel or unusual designs
• Review industry standards making use of network periodicals, attending shows and conferences
• Identify areas of improvement
• Review all previous close-out report
• Review systems and procedures
• Recommend best practices
• Continuous professional development
• Identify and address training needs

Company Image

• Actively promote the Company’s professional image, both internally and externally
• Present technical papers
• Advertise in accordance with Company guidelines
• Interact with professional bodies
• Network and participation in seminars

Qualifications

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bsc/B.Eng  Chemical Engineering or Extractive Metallurgy or Minerals Processing and ECSA registration as a professional engineer.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• A proven experience of 5-8 years experience in industrial operations and successful technical design in any of the following - concentrators, smelters, leach plants and refineries for copper, cobalt, zinc, nickel, gold, uranium, platinum group metals; coal washing plants, iron ore beneficiation plants, heavy mineral sands concentrators.
• Control Philosophy - Knowledge of how the plant should be controlled
• Construction & Commissioning -Understanding of on-site construction work such as commissioning or customers and suppliers’ interactions
• Risk Analysis -Ability to identify project and activates risk from any point of view including knowledge of hazard and operation HAZOP
• Value Engineering - Ability to optimize a process by adding value either as saving in cost or simplifying the process
• Process Flow Diagrams - Ability to produce, understand and deliver Process Flow diagrams
• Testing -Knowledge of testing techniques and procedures including specifications and interpretations of test works
• Equipment & Components - Knowledge of process, control, quality, electrical etc. equipment specifications, suppliers and features (including equipment installation and components)
• Legislation & Standards - Knowledge of sector specific law (e.g. Engineering, safety reqs, Audit regulations, Insurance laws etc.) and knowledge standard specifications (e.g. Plant layout requirements, etc.)  including the ability to integrate these standards.
• Technical Documentation - Ability to create, understand and communicate technical specifications
• Economical Awareness - Knowledge of economic fundamentals and ability to make estimations and proposing alternatives
• Process Simulation - Ability to simulate processes by means of software or other methodologies
• Mass balance - Ability to calculate (using software and spreadsheets) the mass balance of a process
• Process Design Criteria - Knowledge of parameters required to design the process
• Piping & Instrumentation - Diagram        Ability to produce, understand and deliver piping and instrumentation diagrams