Own the process flowsheet design for Mingomba and future KoBold projects, from scoping through feasibility.
Evaluate and recommend processing routes including froth flotation to concentrate, SX-EW, pressure oxidation, and smelter/refinery toll arrangements. Quantify the economic trade-offs of each.
Develop process design criteria, mass and water balances, and equipment specifications for feasibility-level engineering.
Lead the assessment of tailings characteristics, reprocessing potential, and environmental implications of process residues.
Build and maintain a geometallurgical framework that links ore variability (mineralogy, texture, grade distribution) to processing performance with first principles and statistical models.
Collaborate with geologists and data scientists to integrate geometallurgical statistics into resource models, mine schedules, and economic analyses.
Define sampling protocols for metallurgical characterization of drill core and ensure adequate coverage of ore variability.
Ensure mineral processing assumptions are reflected in techno-economic models including TC/RC structures, payable metal calculations, and concentrate penalty elements.
Build, lead, and mentor a mineral processing function within KoBold’s Advanced Technology Group.
Direct and manage relationships with metallurgical consultants, contract laboratories, and engineering firms.
Identify and evaluate emerging processing technologies relevant to KoBold’s target commodities (copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt) along with the existing team.
Coordinate with business development and commercial teams on offtake strategy, concentrate marketing, and smelter negotiations.
Support environmental and permitting workstreams with process-related inputs on water use, reagent consumption, emissions, and waste management.
Track record of managing consultants, laboratories, and multidisciplinary technical teams
Requirements
KoBold builds AI models for mineral exploration and deploys those models—alongside our novel sensors—to guide decisions on KoBold-owned-and-operated exploration programs.
Partner with KoBold’s data science team to apply machine learning and statistical methods to metallurgical datasets.
experience with large scale (ton-kton / day) chemical processes
Experience with design/build from lab test work through large scale production
Experience in mineral processing, with significant time spent on copper sulfide projects from testwork through to operating plant design or commissioning. Direct
experience leading metallurgical testwork programs and translating results into process design criteria and flowsheet selection.
Deep understanding of comminution, flotation, hydrometallurgy, and concentrate handling for base metals. •
Experience contributing to pre-feasibility and/or feasibility studies as the responsible mineral processing engineer. •
Experience with sediment-hosted copper deposits (Zambian Copperbelt or Central African Copperbelt geology).
Experience with geometallurgical modeling and integration into block models.
Comfort beyond spreadsheets in working with data science tools (Python, SQL) for scientific analysis
Experience
Qualifications Required 15+ years of
Benefits
Rowe Price and Canada Pension Plan Investments; technology venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, BOND Capital, Durable Capital, StepStone, and Standard Investments; and natural resources companies Equinor, BHP, and Mitsubishi. About the Role
The US base salary range for this full-time exempt position is $150,000–$300,000, plus equity and benefits including 401k matching. Location: Remote.
Additional details
The mining industry has steadily become worse at finding new ore deposits, requiring >10X more capital to make discoveries compared to 30 years ago.
The easy-to-find, near-surface deposits have largely been found, and the industry has chronically under-invested in new exploration technology, relying on the manual techniques of yesteryear – even as demand accelerates for copper, lithium, and other metals to build electric vehicles, renewable energy, and data centers.
In the six years since founding, KoBold has become by far both the largest independent mineral exploration company and the largest exploration technology developer.
Our data scientists and software engineers, who come from leading technology companies, jointly lead exploration programs with our renowned exploration geologists.
KoBold has proven its first discovery with materially less capital than the industry average and found one of the best copper deposits ever discovered: the copper is far more concentrated than the global average of copper mines, and this asset alone is expected to generate meaningful revenue for decades.
KoBold has a portfolio of more than 60 other projects, each of which has the potential for another high-quality discovery.
KoBold is privately held; investors include institutional asset managers T.
The Mineral Processing Lead will contribute to and lead the development and execution of mineral processing strategy across KoBold’s portfolio, with an initial focus on the Mingomba copper project in Zambia.
Reporting to the CTO, this role is responsible for all aspects of process engineering from early-stage metallurgical testwork through feasibility study design and operational readiness.
You will define the flowsheet, drive geometallurgical characterization, evaluate processing routes (concentration, hydrometallurgy, smelting), and ensure that mineral processing considerations are integrated into mine planning and economic modeling from the earliest stages. Responsibilities