Vice President of Process Chemistry & Metallurgy

Job Description

Vice President of Process Chemistry & Metallurgy
Reports to: SVP of Critical Minerals Processing
Travel: Up to 15% (analytical laboratories, conferences, vendor sites)

About the Opportunity
Our client is a mining company advancing a first-of-kind initiative to extract critical minerals, including rare earth elements and specialty metals, from carbonaceous ore using an innovative high-temperature carbochlorination process. The Vice President of Process Chemistry & Metallurgy will lead a small, technically ambitious team building and operating a bench-scale carbochlorination laboratory, sitting at the center of the experimental program that underpins this novel flowsheet.

This is a rare opportunity to lead a project from the ground up, growing with it through bench-scale test work, pilot-scale demonstration, and ultimately full commercial plant operations. It's a hands-on role suited to a technically driven leader who wants a direct line of sight from laboratory work to industrial-scale impact, working closely with senior leadership to shape a novel process from first principles into a commercial reality.

What You'll Do
Laboratory Operations & Reactor Test Work

• Set up, commission, and operate a bench-scale tube-furnace carbochlorination reactor system, including programmable temperature control, gas delivery, and feed metering.
• Operate and maintain a staged condensation train for selective recovery of metal chloride products, including high-temperature de-sublimation stages, cold-trap condensers, and off-gas scrubbing systems.
• Manage chlorine gas handling infrastructure with strict adherence to safety protocols, including leak detection, cylinder changeovers, scrubber operation, and emergency procedures.
• Perform solid-liquid extraction procedures and small-scale fractional distillation of liquid metal chlorides.
• Maintain rigorous experimental logs, mass balances, and chain-of-custody records for all test campaigns.

Sample Preparation & Analytical Chemistry

• Execute a multi-stage comminution sequence on drill core material, including jaw crushing, roll crushing, and pulverization to target grind sizes for reactor feed.
• Prepare samples for external ICP-OES and ICP-MS analysis, including acid digestion, fusion dissolution, and dilution series for multi-element assay of feed, product, and residue streams.
• Perform routine in-house characterization using techniques such as XRD, loss-on-ignition, particle size analysis, and moisture determination as capabilities are established.
• Interpret analytical results to close mass and elemental balances around each test run, identifying chlorination selectivity, conversion efficiency, and product distribution across condenser stages.

Process Development & Data Analysis

• Design and execute structured experimental programs investigating key process variables.
• Contribute to thermodynamic modeling and literature review efforts, including evaluation of novel process concepts such as silicochlorination and alternative chlorine supplementation methods.
• Develop engineering data packages for scale-up, including kinetic data, heat and mass balance inputs, and product quality specifications for downstream refining.
• Prepare clear technical memoranda, test reports, and data visualizations for internal review and external stakeholder communications.

What You Bring
Required

• Bachelor's or advanced degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Hands-on laboratory or pilot-scale experience with reactor systems, gas handling, and process instrumentation.
• Experience with sample preparation and analytical techniques such as ICP-OES, ICP-MS, XRD, or similar characterization methods.
• Working knowledge of mass and elemental balance calculations, with the ability to translate lab-scale data into scale-up engineering packages.
• Experience handling hazardous or reactive gases, such as chlorine, under strict safety protocols.
• Strong technical writing skills, with the ability to produce clear reports and data visualizations for technical and non-technical audiences alike.
• Comfort working in a small, fast-moving technical team where hands-on lab work and strategic process leadership go hand in hand.

Preferred

• Experience with halogenation, chlorination, or related pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical extraction chemistry.
• Background in critical minerals, rare earth elements, or specialty metals processing.
• Experience supporting the transition of a process from bench-scale through pilot demonstration to commercial design.
• Familiarity with thermodynamic modeling and process simulation tools.
• Prior leadership or mentoring experience in a research or process development setting.

A Note on Fit
We understand no candidate will meet every single desired qualification. If your experience looks a little different from what we've identified and you think you can bring value to the role, we'd love to learn more about you!

Contact
Samantha Larson
775-291-3062
Samantha@MRCrecruiting.com