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Solvent Extraction, Ion Exchange & Hydrometallurgy Specialist - GCM-5
Location: Remote - anchored to Houston, Texas 77002
Engagement: Contingent consulting/project-based assignment
Anticipated compensation: $150-$300 per hour or a negotiated fixed price for a defined work package
Travel: International travel may be required
Opportunity: USTDA Global Critical Minerals Project Scoping Services
Position Summary
Axyde Analytics is assembling a multidisciplinary expert cadre for a time-sensitive proposal to the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. If Axyde receives the award, USTDA may request support evaluating prospective international mining, mineral-processing, refining, infrastructure and critical-mineral supply-chain projects.
For GCM-5, Axyde is seeking a senior specialist with substantial, directly evidenced experience in selective metal recovery and purification through:

• Solvent extraction
• Ion exchange
• Adsorption
• Resin-in-pulp or resin-in-solution systems
• Selective elution and stripping
• Integrated hydrometallurgical separation circuits

This is a deliberately narrow technical requirement. The specialist may work within a broader team addressing geology, mineral processing, leaching, refining, infrastructure, finance and environmental risk, but selection for GCM-5 will be based primarily on demonstrated depth in solvent extraction, ion exchange or adsorption.
This is not a general metallurgy, hydrometallurgy, chemical-engineering, laboratory or process-development position. General experience with leaching or aqueous chemistry will not substitute for directly relevant separation-circuit experience.
Potential Responsibilities
Depending on the assignment, the specialist may:

• Evaluate pregnant-leach-solution chemistry and its suitability for solvent extraction, ion exchange or adsorption.
• Assess separation selectivity, impurity profiles, loading capacity, kinetics and equilibrium behavior.
• Review extractant, diluent, modifier, resin, sorbent and reagent selection.
• Evaluate extraction, scrubbing, stripping, elution, regeneration and recycle assumptions.
• Review laboratory, bench, pilot, demonstration and commercial-scale test results.
• Assess mixer-settler, column, contactor, resin-bed or adsorption-system configuration.
• Evaluate organic-to-aqueous ratios, stage requirements, residence times, phase disengagement and circuit stability.
• Review impurity control, crud formation, entrainment, solvent losses, resin degradation and fouling risks.
• Assess mass balances, solution inventories, reagent consumption, water demand and product-recovery assumptions.
• Evaluate process-control requirements, materials of construction, corrosion risks and equipment selection.
• Review integration with upstream leaching and downstream precipitation, crystallization, electrowinning or product conversion.
• Identify test-work gaps, scale-up risks, operating vulnerabilities and conditions for project advancement.
• Contribute to scopes of work, terms of reference, budgets, schedules, test programs and technical-risk registers.
• Prepare or independently review concise, decision-grade technical findings and recommendations.
• Participate in remote meetings, stakeholder discussions and international site visits when required.

Required Specialized Experience
Applicants must demonstrate meaningful experience in one or more of the following:

• Solvent-extraction circuit design, operation, commissioning or optimization.
• Ion-exchange or resin-based metal separation.
• Adsorption systems for selective metal recovery.
• Extractant or resin selection and performance testing.
• Countercurrent extraction, scrubbing and stripping circuits.
• Recovery or purification of copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium, uranium, rare earths, gallium, germanium, indium, vanadium or comparable critical materials.
• Separation of target metals from complex polymetallic solutions.
• Pilot-plant design, execution, interpretation or scale-up.
• Commercial hydrometallurgical process troubleshooting.
• Independent technical review of separation technologies, flowsheets or investment claims.

Experience limited to bulk leaching without subsequent selective recovery or purification is not sufficient by itself.
Applicants must distinguish their personal technical contributions from the work performed by the broader project or organization.
Résumé Evidence Required
DO NOT SUBMIT A GENERAL RÉSUMÉ.
The submitted résumé must clearly identify:

• At least two directly relevant solvent-extraction, ion-exchange or adsorption projects.
• The target metals and principal impurities.
• The feed-solution composition and upstream process, where relevant.
• The specific extractants, resins, sorbents or separation mechanisms involved.
• The applicant's personal role and technical responsibility.
• The scale of the work: laboratory, bench, pilot, demonstration or commercial.
• Relevant circuit configurations, test programs, operating parameters or process equipment.
• Technical reports, flowsheets, models, designs, reviews or recommendations personally produced.
• Measurable outcomes such as recovery, selectivity, purity, loading, reagent consumption, solvent loss or operating improvement, where available.

A résumé that merely lists hydrometallurgy, leaching, mineral processing, laboratory analysis or chemical engineering without substantiating direct separation-circuit experience will not be advanced.
Breadth is not rewarded for GCM-5 unless the required solvent-extraction, ion-exchange or adsorption depth is first established.
Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in chemical engineering, hydrometallurgy, extractive metallurgy, chemistry or a closely related discipline.
• Professional Engineer or comparable technical credential.
• Experience taking separation processes from laboratory testing through pilot, demonstration or commercial operation.
• Experience with complex polymetallic feed solutions or difficult impurity-removal requirements.
• Familiarity with upstream leaching and downstream product-recovery operations.
• Experience reviewing mass balances, capital costs and operating costs.
• Experience evaluating projects in emerging markets.
• Experience preparing independent technical reviews, feasibility-study inputs or lender/investor due diligence.
• Experience preparing English-language reports for government, financial or executive decision-makers.

Eligibility and Availability
Applicants must:

• Be a U.S. citizen or a non-U.S. citizen lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States.
• Be potentially available to begin supporting an authorized assignment within approximately 20 days, subject to final scheduling.
• Be willing and able to travel internationally when an assignment requires it.
• Identify any country, customer, travel, employment, confidentiality, intellectual-property or conflict-of-interest restrictions.
• Be able to perform without using or disclosing proprietary information belonging to another employer or client.
• Authorize Axyde to tailor and reformat the submitted résumé without materially changing the applicant's qualifications.

Contingent Nature of the Opportunity
This announcement supports proposal and contingent-workforce planning. It does not guarantee employment, contract award, minimum hours or a specific assignment. Any engagement will remain subject to contract award, assignment requirements, final role alignment, eligibility, availability, mutually acceptable compensation and execution of appropriate engagement documentation.
Application Instructions
Submit a résumé specifically tailored to solvent extraction, ion exchange or adsorption. Include a short statement identifying:

1. Your strongest separation-process subspecialty.
2. The target metals and feed solutions with which you have worked.
3. Two directly relevant projects and your personal technical contribution.
4. The testing or operating scale achieved.
5. Your current location.
6. Your U.S.-citizen or lawful-permanent-resident status.
7. Your international-travel availability.
8. Your anticipated hourly rate or fixed-work-package preference.

Applicants who cannot demonstrate direct depth in solvent extraction, ion exchange or adsorption should not apply to GCM-5.