keynote speakers

Kathy holds a PhD from the University of Arizona. She has been providing independent hydrometallurgical consulting services since 2011, with clients on six continents, and has worked across a wide range of commodities, including base metals, uranium, titanium, vanadium, and precious metals. Her main areas of expertise are in solvent extraction, ion exchange, and electrowinning. 

She also holds an adjunct professor position at the University of Pretoria. She received the 2019 Milton E. Wadsworth award from SME (USA) and was twice awarded the Silver Medal of the SAIMM. Kathy is a Fellow of SAIMM and the South African Academy of Engineers.

Frank graduated with degrees in chemical engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (BSc Eng, 1983, MSc Eng, 1986, PhD 1988). Between 1985 and 1990 he worked at Mintek, a state-run metallurgical laboratory, where he was seconded as an objector to military service under the apartheid government. He joined the faculty of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in 1990. In 1999, he joined Billiton and BHP Billiton Capital. In 2002, he established CM Solutions, an engineering consultancy, which has grown steadily. 

He received the Wadsworth Award of the US SME in 2020 and the Gold Medal of the South African Institution of Chemical Engineers. He was elected to the prestigious US National Academy of Engineers in 2023, for his research on the mechanisms of dissolution. 

Jochen holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cape Town, where he is now Full Professor after a research career spanning close on 30 years in hydrometallurgy. His research covers leaching and recovery of Cu, Ni, Zn, PGMs, Au and REEs from both primary minerals and secondary resources such as e-waste. His key field of expertise is heap leaching.

Jochen has co-authored over 150 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers and supervised 15 PhDs and 60 MScs to graduation. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Hydrometallurgy 2011-2021 and held a prestigious South African Research Chair 2018-2022.