John Neale, Retired; former Technical Specialist at Mintek

John Neale, Retired; former Technical Specialist at Mintek

About

John Neale has worked in Mintek's Biotechnology Division for over 30 years. His main experience is in agitated bioleaching research and development, bioleach reactor design, heap leaching for gold, base metal and uranium projects, the drafting of process design specifications, the commercialisation of technologies and the commissioning of pilot- and commercial-scale plants. He has ​work ​experience in ​southern Africa, Australasia, northern Europe, South America and the Middle ​East.

John's areas of expertise also include:

John has co-authored dozens of papers on the topic of bioleaching, focusing on process design, process development, reactor scale-up, pilot-plant operation and commercial implementation.

Recently, he has become involved in several new areas of the Biotechnology Division's business, including waste processing (with an emphasis on mine tailings re-treatment and e-waste processing), and mine water treatment. He has designed a pilot plant for the passive treatment of mine-impacted waters from a South African coal mine using a biological sulfate reduction process, and will be involved in the commissioning and operation of the plant.

John, who holds a B.Sc. (Eng.)(Chem.) degree from the University of Cape Town, is a member of the South African Institution of Chemical Engineers (SAIChE), and an associate member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE). He is also affiliated to the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). He has twice been awarded the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Silver Medal Award for technical publications, and was awarded the Mintek Silver Medal APEX Technology Transfer Award for the implementation of the Mintek-BacTech gold bioleaching technology at the Beaconsfield Gold Mine in Tasmania, Australia.

John outside interests include:

Information

Industry experience

Education: Bachelor

Seniority: Expert, Engineer, Consultant

Years of experience: 20 years or above

Work experience

Taxonomy