Senior Advisor – Technical Modelling

Senior Advisor – Technical Modelling

• Be part of the team pioneering the commercialisation of Rio Tinto’s novel Nuton^TM heap leaching technology
• You challenge. We reward.
• Key role in a diverse and global organization
• Role based in Melbourne, Australia

About the role

Nuton^TM is an innovative new venture that aims to help grow Rio Tinto’s copper business. At the core of Nuton^TM is a portfolio of proprietary copper leach related technologies and capability – a product of almost 30 years of research and development. The Nuton^TM technology offers the potential to economically unlock known low-grade copper sulphide resources, copper bearing waste and tailings, and achieve higher copper recoveries on primary copper sulphide material, allowing for a significantly increased copper production outcome. One of the key differentiators of Nuton^TM is the potential to deliver leading environmental performance, including more efficient water usage, lower carbon emissions, and the ability to reclaim mine sites by reprocessing mine waste.

We are looking for a Senior Advisor – Technical Modelling to provide technical modelling and programming support to the various Nuton studies.

Reporting to the Technology Development Manager, you will:

• Process and interpret heap leaching testwork data. Provide technical guidance to metallurgical testwork programmes.
• Generate, analyse and interpret metallurgical process model simulations.
• Use your programming skills to further improve and update the Nuton process models to align with Nuton technology developments and/or test new scenarios.
• Collaborate with and support the column test team at Bundoora as may be required from time to time
• Utilise testwork data to validate model assumptions.
• Utilise process models to predict and scale-up performance of sulphide heap leach operations.
• Support the Nuton Technology Transfer team to produce process design criteria for engineering design purposes.
• Report on model simulation outputs to technical and/or non-technical audiences, for use in process engineering design, business case evaluations and geometallurgical understanding.

What you’ll bring:

To be successfully considered for this role, you will have:

• A commitment to the safety of yourself and your team.
• Qualification requirement:
  • A Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical/Metallurgical Engineering (other degrees, such as Mechanical Engineering, considered with related experience) or
  • A Bachelor’s Degree in Geochemistry/Geoscience or
  • A degree in Data Science/Mathematics with postgraduate qualification/experience in Computational Fluid Dynamics.
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in industry working in a team, including experience in chemical, metallurgical and/or fluid flow process modelling.
• A strong interest and competency in applying process models to develop, assess and optimize process designs
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including VBA.
• Ability to apply programming languages such VBA, Perl, Python, Fortran or R to aid in visualizing and presenting data.
• Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal skills to effectively communicate with employees at all levels of the organization and external vendors and stakeholders.

The following skills would be an added advantage:

• Experience in computational fluid dynamics modelling.
• A strong background in hydrometallurgical chemistry
• Ability to interpret and process test data and its findings, and to generate and process simulation outputs suitable for audiences of variable metallurgical knowledge.
• Experience in leaching processes, especially copper heap leaching.
• Previous experience in developing and updating chemistry process models.

What we offer

Be recognized for your contribution, your thinking, and your hard work, and go home knowing you’ve helped the world progress.

• A work environment where safety is always the number one priority
• A competitive salary package with annual cash incentive awards for eligible employees
• Career development & education assistance to further your ambitions
• Access top tier family-friendly health and medical programs and pension plan
• Wellbeing benefits
• Generous Rio Tinto employee share program
• Employee Assistance Program
• Ongoing individual wellbeing support for you and your family for personal and professional matters
• Leave for all of life’s reasons (vacation/annual, paid parental, sick leave)

About Rio Tinto

Every idea, every innovation, every little thing the world calls ‘progress’ begins with a first step, and someone willing to take it: explorers, inventors, entrepreneurs. Pioneers. For nearly 150 years, Rio Tinto has been a company of pioneers – generations of people spanning the globe, all with the grit and vision to produce materials essential to human progress. Our iron ore has shaped skylines from Shanghai to Sydney. Our aluminium – the world’s first to be certified “responsible” – helps planes fly and makes cars lighter. Our copper helps wind turbines power cities and our boron helps feed the world and explore the universe. Our diamonds help us celebrate the best parts of life.

Where you’ll be working

The role will be based in Melbourne, Australia with some domestic and international travel required.

Every Voice Matters 

We are committed to an inclusive environment where people feel comfortable being themselves. We want our people to feel that all voices are heard, all cultures respected and that a variety of perspectives are not only welcome – they are essential to our success. We treat each other fairly and with dignity regardless of race, gender, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, age, sexual orientation or anything else that makes us different. 

Closing date: 15th September 2023