Bryn Harris, Ph.D.
President
Chief Science Officer
Esteemed Faculty member and Adjunct Professor at McGill University in Montreal Canada, Bryn Harris brings 35 years of unparalleled expertise in the treatment of metalliferous ores, metals refining and materials processing in the mining and refining industries. In March 1973 Dr. Harris made his mark in the Zambia (Nchanga) Consolidated Copper Mines in Kitwe where he developed a process based on the recovery of electrolytic copper and cobalt from copper converter slag, later known as the Avmin Cosac Process. In 1978 he developed the Magnola Process in addition to other novel leach purification processes as Senior Group Scientist at Noranda Technologies, Canada.
In 1985 his innovative design led to Dr. Harris leading the successful commissioning of the Gold Plant at CCR (Canadian Copper Refinery, now Xstrata) in Montreal, heralding the modern era in gold refining technology. CCR proceeded to demonstrate a remarkable payback of its capital outlay, recouping 100% of the Plant’s total construction & commissioning costs for the parent company Noranda within five weeks of launch date. Not only is the CCR Refinery still fully operational to this day, it is the most successful and environmentally sustainable gold refinery in the world, producing over one million ounces of gold annually. In 1990 he was invited to join renowned engineering consultancy Hatch, where he spearheaded many of the world’s mining projects, the CEZinc Jarofix Project, and the Avmin Cosa Project at Chambishi in Zambia, as lead process engineer on the commercial plant for the installation of the process to recover copper and cobalt from smelter slag, the project he had first worked on when with ZCCM 25 years previously. Since 2002, he has been working on developing groundbreaking innovative processes including the chloride based circuits for base metal oxide and sulfide feeds. As well as being being called upon to act as Expert witness on behalf of the Royal Canadian Mint on a highly critical and confidential matter, he was also the primary troubleshooter for the Royal Canadian Mint’s Silver refinery’s Installation, relative to which he is noted as Co-Inventor, together with Carl White, of the resulting Silver Nitrate Purification Patent, rights for which are presently assigned to the Mint.
Dr. Harris is a past chair of the Hydrometallurgy Section of CIM, was the recipient of their Sherritt Award for Hydrometallurgy in 1995 and is a CIM Fellow. He has authored or co-authored over 50 technical publications and is the holder of 13 Patents. Since he decided to launch his independent consultancy he has lent his experience to a multitude of companies in the metallurgy industry for the processing of both precious and non-precious metals, arsenic disposal, smelter dust treatment, ion exchange and solvent extraction processing. Within the Neomet team, Dr. Harris is furthering research into uncharted territory utilizing unique extraction methodologies for high purity metals, especially in clean sustainable mining processes, recovery of value metals from mine tailings, zero carbon footprint precious metal refining and transformative technologies, making him an outstanding innovator and mentor for younger scientists.
Carl White
Technical Director
Carl White’s personal odyssey and scientific career have been nothing short of remarkable. He has made the transformation from unrecognized technician at Noranda to world leader in quantitative metallurgy. As technical advisor to Noranda R&D team in 1999, his fields of endeavor were primary feeds, leaching/solid liquid separation circuits and brine purification units. Other involvements were in the areas of gas treatment, CHC removal and prill dehydration. However Carl’s present activities focus on developing novel innovative pathways in the field of hydrometallurgy and analytical processes, specifically conceptual process flowsheets for recovery of precious & base metals and rare earth elements; copper, nickel, cobalt, zinc, vanadium, selenium, tellurium, scandium and niobium. He is widely considered to be world’s leading expert in precious metal recovery from difficult to treat ores, ion exchange, and pressure leaching. Carl White’s contributions to Science have been recognized in many diverse areas. In addition being the driving force behind numerous patents and publications, he is universally acknowledged by his peers to be the ‘go to’ problem solver, celebrating his unequivocal unique talent and spirit of innovation.
Lisa L. Deere
Operational Logistics
Lisa has an extensive background in mining Project Management and Technology platforms. Her core expertise is in planning process logistics through the entire event cycle from expected deliverables to optimum metallurgical methodologies, executables from the research phase to the development team and circuit test operation engineers. Ms. Deere’s specific role within Neomet is to ensure seamless integration and transition from initial ore Scoping Tests to Process Development to Pilot Plant design & build phase, addressing project blueprint concerns to ensure measurable, quantifiable performance metrics well above prevailing standards of the industry. Over the past years working closely with the team’s principal scientists, Ms. Deere has developed a unique comprehension of the inner workings of Neomet’s IP portfolio and methodologies, and in being able to address its technical concerns; proprietary schematics, flow sheets, matrices specifically designed for each ore mineralization, initial scoping trials, batch tests to continuous pilot plant circuits. She presently oversees functional components essential to designing and implementing viable plant circuits, and setting milestones with extreme process performance thresholds in one of the most fiercely demanding and competitive of industries.