Fire Essay Manager

Leads the Fire Assay department within the Minerals Analysis Laboratory, responsible for the safe, efficient, and compliant execution of precious metals determination (Au, Ag, PGMs) via fusion/cupellation and instrumental finish (AAS/ICP OES/ICP MS). Owns people leadership, production planning, method validation/verification, quality control, and continual improvement to meet turnaround time (TAT), quality (QA/QC), and cost objectives aligned to ISO/IEC 17025.

Key Responsibilities

• Plan and oversee daily/weekly fire assay production schedules, balancing sample throughput, furnace capacity, and TAT commitments.
• Ensure rigorous sample integrity through the chain of custody-from receipt, drying, crushing, splitting/pulverizing, fluxing, fusion, cupellation, bead digestion, to instrumental finish.
• Maintain, optimize, and troubleshoot furnaces (fusion and cupellation), muffle furnaces, balances, flux dispensers, and pour/cooling workflows; coordinate preventive and predictive maintenance with Engineering/Facilities.
• Own method validation/verification (linearity, accuracy, precision, LoD/LoQ, robustness, recovery, matrix effects) for Au/Ag/PGM methods; maintain validation files and change-control records.
• Enforce QA/QC schemes: insertion and review of CRMs, blanks, pulp/field duplicates, spikes; establish control charts and Westgard/Shewhart rules; investigate and close out nonconformities and out-of-control events.
• Approve and periodically review SOPs, work instructions, job safety analyses (JSAs), and batch records; ensure version control and staff training sign offs.
• Coordinate instrumental finish (FA AAS/ICP OES/ICP MS) with the Chemistry section; verify calibration strategies, interference control, and drift checks.
• Own ISO/IEC 17025 compliance for the section: measurement uncertainty budgets, proficiency testing/inter laboratory comparisons, traceability (CRMs, calibration), internal audits, and management reviews.
• Monitor consumables (fluxes, litharge, silver, collectors, parting acids, crucibles, scorifiers) and spares; optimize recipes and cost per determination while maintaining performance.
• Implement 5S, Lean, and visual management to improve throughput, ergonomics, and safety in hot work areas; lead Kaizen events for cycle time reduction and yield improvement.
• Lead incident reporting and root cause analysis (e.g., bead loss, slag inclusions, poor prill formation, contamination); implement corrective and preventive actions (CAPA).
• Ensure EHS compliance: ventilation, heat stress management, lead exposure control, acid handling, waste segregation (lead-bearing, cyanide-bearing if applicable), and emergency response readiness.
• Train, develop, and assess staff competency; manage rostering, overtime, and certification of furnace operators and pour teams.
• Authorize release of results after technical review; support customer technical queries, method selection, and tender/bid inputs for precious metals analysis.
• Drive digitalization: LIMS utilization (barcoding, worksheets, batch linking), instrument data integration, and real time KPIs dashboards.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Metallurgy, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related field.
• 8+ years in minerals laboratory operations with at least 3 years leading a fire assay section.
• Hands on experience with ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, PT/ILC participation, and audit responses.
• Strong EHS background in hot work, lead handling, and acid processes; IH exposure monitoring familiarity.