Bio
Jestos Taguta is a Chemical Engineer offering more than 10 years’ international experience in laboratory/pilot plant, plant operations, engineering and technical consultancy roles in the Mining and Metals industry. He has strong technical, business, project and people management skills. His areas of expertise include mineral processing and metallurgy, flowsheet development, research, development and innovation (RDI), metallurgical testwork (laboratory and pilot testing), project management, metallurgical consulting (plant auditing, plant surveys, mass balancing, plant trials, on-site process support and plant optimization), technology evaluation, development and transfer, EPC projects, mineral processing equipment design/selection, commissioning, optimization and operation as well as measurement, modeling and simulation of flotation circuits.
He has managed all areas of project development from conceptual to definitive feasibility studies, through to detailed design and commissioning. He has consulted, managed and executed several complex, multidisciplinary metallurgical projects and strategic programs aimed at improving metallurgical, energy and water efficiencies. His commodity exposure include platinum group metals (PGM), copper, nickel, zinc, lead, coal, graphite, chromite, iron, fluorite, rare earth elements, phosphate, tin, etc. He also co-supervises several postgraduate research projects.
His research interests include flowsheet development for the sustainable processing of primary and secondary sources, process mineralogy, geometallurgy, comminution, classification, froth flotation (pulp/surface/colloidal chemistry, thermochemistry, novel flotation reagents, novel flotation machines), water within mineral processing, decarbonization of mineral processing operations, fine and coarse particle processing, dewatering and leaching.
He is a recipient of the prestigious IMPC Young Author Award at the biannual XXVIII International Mineral Processing Congress, 2016 in Quebec City, Canada for one of the best ten researchers and technical papers presented by authors younger than 35 years. He is also a National Research Foundation (NRF)-rated researcher in South Africa.
Experience
Prior to joining NRRI, Jestos has worked for the following organizations:
- Jun. 2022 - Feb. 2023: Flotation Manager/Director - Eriez Flotation Africa;
- Oct. 2019 - Jun. 2022: Head of Flotation Group, Chief Engineer, Senior Engineer - Mineral Processing Division, Mintek, South Africa;
- Aug. 2019 - Sept. 2019: Visiting R&D Engineer - FLSmidth Technology Centre, Utah, USA;
- Jan. 2014 - Sept. 2019: Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Engineer - Centre for Minerals Research, University of Cape Town.
Education
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Cape Town, 2019
- Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town, South Africa, 2019
- MSc in Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town, South Africa, 2015
- B.Eng. (Hons) in Chemical Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe, 2011
