| 1997-Present | Behre Dolbear & Company, Inc. - Senior Associate - Denver, CO | |
| Provides expertise in base and precious metal extraction, phosphate processes, bio-oxidation and heap leach systems, dredging and dewatering systems, water treatment facilities, metallurgical audit and assay investigations, project and plant operations. pilot plant startup and operation, and hazardous and radioactive waste remediation. | ||
| 1991-Present | Richard S. Kunter & Associates - Consulting Metallurgical Engineer -Golden, CO | |
| Consulting on metallurgical and environmental process projects including base and precious metals, phosphates, pressure leaching applications, hazardous wastes, and radioactive wastes for a variety of established domestic and international clients. Was Senior Technical Consultant for: the process development of the Pit 9 and Warm Waste Pond Projects at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory both involving dewatering and clean waste separation from radioactive wastes; and for plutonium recovery from coral sand process development and pilot plant operation for a Johnston Atoll project including mechanical dewatering of concentrates and slimes. Metallurgical Consultant to the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank for several projects including pressure leaching and bio-oxidation applications for refractory gold ores. | ||
| 1994-1996 | Advanced Sciences, Inc. - Principal Metallurgical Engineer/Senior Project Manager - Lakewood, CO | |
| Project Manager for a contract with
the San Antonio Air Command Office of low level radioactive waste at Kelly Air
Force Base. This contract included a low pressure thermal stripping
treatability study of a tritium and solvent contaminated mixed waste; a study
of alternative treatment and disposal options; and sampling, characterization,
manifesting, and shipping of a mixed waste for disposal at Envirocare in
Utah. Project Manager for the development of a dredge system to recover and mechanically dewater plutonium-contaminated coral sand slimes contained in lagoons on Johnston Atoll. Supervised and conducted laboratory treatability tests for process development. Equipment skids to accomplish this task were fabricated in Colorado and air transported to Johnston Atoll by C130 Air Force transport. Project Manager for a small-arms range lead removal and recovery from soil demonstration project for the Army Environmental Center conducted at Fort Polk, Louisiana including mechanical dewatering of lead and phosphate bearing slimes. Project Manager for the construction of a water treatment containment dam at the Summitville Gold Mine superfund site for the Bureau of Reclamation in Colorado. Metallurgical Consultant on a team commissioned by the International Finance Corporation to do a due diligence review of a proposed Uzbekistan gold mine and process facility using bio-oxidation of a sulfide flotation gold concentrate. |
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| 1989-1991 | Artech Recovery Systems, Inc.-Vice President, Technology -Golden, CO | |
| Directed the technical development
of a low pressure, low temperature leach process called the "Cashman Process"
to extract base and precious metals from a complex arsenical flue dust and fix
the arsenic in an environmentally stable form. This process, which was piloted
at Hazen Research, Inc. for ARCO Coal Company, Inc., was designed to remediate
environmentally hazardous wastes from the base and precious metal smelting
industry in a manner which partially recovered some of the costs with the
recycled materials. The process included the filtration of hot acidic solutions
from arsenical residues and the subsequent rinsing and dewatering of the
residues by mechanical belt pressure filters. Consulted on several domestic and international remediation and process development projects including locations in Chile, Canada, Mexico and Indonesia. |
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| 1979-1988 | Homestake Mining Company - Senior Corporate Metallurgical Engineer- Golden, CO | |
| Developed and is the senior inventor
of the patent on the refractory gold pressure oxidation process for Homestake's
$280 million McLaughlin Project resulting in an increase of deposit life from 7
years to over 13 years, an increase in recovery from 46 percent to 95 percent,
and a non-hazardous declaration for the tailings from the State of
California. Directed the investigation of the metallurgical characteristics of over 90 percent of Homestake's exploration projects during this period, which resulted in eight of those projects continuing into detailed metallurgical development and ultimately mined. Involved in the environmental process development of water treatment facilities for the Homestake Mine at Lead, SD, the Bulldog Mountain Mine at Creede, CO, and the tailing impoundment at the Grants Uranium Mill (a carbonate pressure leach plant) in Grants, NM. Developed, designed, and managed several large projects (up to $700,000) and the contract test work for a corporate metallurgy department. Participated in the test work, design, and operation of filtration systems involved in the dewatering of concentrates, tailings, and sludges and slurries for the recycling of plant water. |
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| 1976-1978 | Newmont Pty. Ltd. - Mill Superintendent & Senior Metallurgist - Telfer, Western Australia | |
| Constructed, commissioned and operated a 1,200 metric ton per day CCD gold mill in the Great Sandy Desert with difficult logistics. The mill achieved a 98 percent recovery rate from a 22 parts per million gold head grade giving a combined gravity and cyanide doré production of 150 kilograms per week. Supervised more than 30 people at this remote desert site. | ||
| 1971-1976 | Western Mining Corporation - Research and Plant Metallurgist - Belmont, Western Australia | |
| Participated in several pilot plant operations including bacterially-augmented heap leaching low-grade nickel ore, carbonate pressure leaching of uranium ore, and improving the pouring characteristics of nickel flash smelter mattes. Operated a 500 metric ton per day gold plant with drum filters, and worked at a pressure hydrometallurgical nickel refinery. | ||
| 1969-1971 | University of Idaho-Masters of Engineering Thesis Phosphate Research, Moscow, ID | |
| Developed a process for the beneficiation of low-grade phosphorites located in the western United States. Spent time in the phosphate recovery plants in southern Idaho and western Wyoming as part of this applied research project for the state of Idaho. This research project was published as a masters of engineering thesis, "Heavy Media Separation of Western Phosphorites", in 1969. | ||
