Chief Metallurgist

Brooks & Nelson’s client is seeking a Chief Metallurgist.

The Chief Metallurgist is a senior technical and operational leader responsible for providing strategic metallurgical direction, critical input to restart design and engineering, hands-on technical expertise, and people leadership. This Superintendent level role will be instrumental in supporting the site through evaluation, planning, project start-up, and restart activities by building strong metallurgical systems, recruiting and developing talent, and partnering across departments to deliver safe, practical, and innovative processing solutions.

The position requires a proven leader who can navigate ambiguity, overcome operational and technical challenges, and translate metallurgical strategy into executable plans. The successful candidate will bring deep mineral processing experience, sound business judgment, and the ability to mentor teams, influence stakeholders, and drive continuous improvement in metal recovery, process reliability, project execution, and operational readiness.

• Provide senior leadership and strategic technical direction for metallurgical, maintenance and processing activities, with a focus on safe restart readiness, operational excellence, and long-term process performance.
• Lead, mentor, and develop metallurgical and laboratory team members by setting clear expectations, aligning individual goals with site priorities, providing timely performance feedback, and supporting career growth through coaching, training, and succession planning.
• Champion a strong safety culture by promoting safe work practices and ensuring compliance with environmental and regulatory requirements.
• Define, monitor, and communicate process performance targets and technical limits to support stable and optimized operations.
• Lead complex metallurgical troubleshooting efforts, applying sound technical judgment and creative problem-solving to overcome process inefficiencies, bottlenecks, recovery challenges, and restart-related constraints.
• Oversee metallurgical testing programs, including design, execution, and interpretation of results to support process optimization.
• Lead and maintain accurate metallurgical accounting systems, including daily, monthly, and annual production reporting.
• Provide technical oversight of sampling systems, on-stream analyzers, and laboratory services to ensure data accuracy and reliability.
• Collaborate closely with Operations, Maintenance, Geology, Mine Engineering, Environmental, and site leadership to align processing strategies with ore characteristics, production objectives, project priorities, and business needs.
• Lead and support strategic process improvement initiatives, including evaluation and implementation of innovative technologies, alternate operating strategies, and practical solutions that improve recovery, reliability, cost performance, and operational readiness.
• Oversee metallurgical and process-related projects from concept through execution, including scoping, budgeting, forecasting, risk identification, commissioning support, ramp-up planning, performance tracking, and post-implementation review.
• Build technical capability across the organization by mentoring metallurgical, laboratory, operations, and cross-functional personnel, sharing best practices, and fostering a culture of accountability, curiosity, continuous learning, and operational discipline.
• Support budgeting, forecasting, and cost management activities related to processing and metallurgical performance.
• Foster a high-performance culture that values safety, innovation, data-driven decision-making, cross-functional collaboration, and the ability to challenge existing practices in pursuit of better…