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World-renowned practitioners.
World-leading training.

Put your professional development in the hands of the experts. 

Metcelerate is unique. No other organization is designed from the ground up to address our industry’s skills gaps. No other organization can apply the same degree of proven expertise in developing metallurgical talent for your organization. You’re in safe hands with Metcelerate.

You need a pool of upskilled metallurgists. We can help develop them. 

A stellar combination of experience and expertise.

Metcelerate consists of a world-renowned team of global professionals with unique backgrounds in process design and optimization, plant operations, and professional development in minerals processing and extractive metallurgy.

Our goal is simple: to create the next generation of experienced, competent, and confident metallurgists for our clients.

‘Surely there’s a more efficient way of doing this?’

Established in 2019, Metcelerate is a business-to-business program developed in partnership with leading mining organizations. It was created with twin goals in mind — to help bridge the gap in technical skills and provide a reliable supply of outstanding metallurgists for our clients. The result is a unique, technical training program that allows operations to maximize value and engineers to fulfil their potential.

Here’s how the Metcelerate vision took shape 

Meet the Metcelerate team

Our global management team


Diana Drinkwater

Director

Jan Cilliers

Director

Robert Seitz

Director

Katja Freitag

General Manager

Our operations team


Jenny Wiese

Program Manager

Rebecca Reaburn

Operations Manager

Shan Clarke

Program Support

Renée Barrette

French Learner Support

Claudia Maturana

Operations Manager LATAM

Nina Bianco

Education Development Manager

Who and where we are.

Metcelerate Limited — an independent, global company.

Our world-class course leaders 


  • Spanish
  • English/French
Prof. Jan Cilliers Value Chain

Jan is Professor of Mineral Processing in the Royal School of Mines at Imperial College London. He specializes in developing complex physical models and measurement techniques for the improvement of mineral separations. He serves on the International Mineral Processing Council and is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Dr. Bob Seitz Value Chain

Bob has extensive experience in designing, developing, and optimizing mineral processing plants, with a particular focus on problem solving and continuous improvement. Over a 40-year career, he has worked in mineral processing, extractive metallurgy, process development, and process engineering across a wide range of commodities, including gold, base metals, iron ore, coal, and industrial minerals.

Dr. Catherine Evans Process Mineralogy

Cathy is a mineral processing engineer and geometallurgist with more than 30 years’ experience. She has extensive knowledge of geometallurgy, mineralogy, comminution, and separation processes, gained across multiple projects and mineral processing operations. She has worked across assorted ore types and commodities, including lead, zinc, copper, nickel, gold, silver, platinum materials, and iron ore.

Dr. Elaine Wightman Process Mineralogy

Elaine is an experienced mineral processing engineer with a PhD in the same field. She has a particular area of interest in the use of automated tools for mineral characterization, a subject that has been central to many of her research and teaching activities. In addition, Elaine is Co-Editor of Process Mineralogy, and a respected developer and deliverer of course content at multiple universities.

Dr. Brigitte Seaman Experimental Design & Statistics

Brigitte has more than 20 years of industry experience in copper, gold, and base metal processing with particular skills in ore deposit characterization, flotation, technology assessment, and implementation. Her expertise includes planning, technology and innovation, technical servies, leading teams, and facilitating cross-functional collaborations.

Dr. David Seaman Experimental Design & Statistics

David has more than 20 years' experience in copper, gold, and base metal processing. His skills include flotation, process modeling, geometallurgy, and technology management using the technology readiness level (TRL) framework. His expertise spans operational excellence, brownfields expansions, and geometallurgy.

Aidan Giblett Comminution

Aidan is an experienced processing and metallurgy professional with a proven performance history in the mining and metals industry. He has acquired more than 25 years’ experience in gold and base metals processing, serving in both operational and corporate roles.

Prof. Jim Finch Flotation

Jim is widely recognized as a world-leader in flotation. His research ranges from size reduction to magnetic separation, and most prominently the chemistry and physics of flotation. His outstanding contributions to mineral processing were recognized at a conference in his honor at the 48th Conference of the Metallurgy and Materials Society, Sudbury.

Brigitte Lacouture Physical Separation and Process Optimization Project

Brigitte is an experienced mineral processing engineer with a Master’s degree in Process Control. She has over 30 years of operating experience in some of the largest complex metal sulfide mills in the world. Her passions include introducing the latest technology into production environments and mentoring young engineers.

Prof. Kathryn Sole Hydrometallurgy

Kathryn is a process metallurgist, project leader, and subject matter expert with 30 years’ global experience in the chemistry and process engineering of hydrometallurgy processes. Kathryn also provides independent consulting services and accredited training services to the mining industry, particularly technical expertise in the areas of solvent extraction, ion exchange, and electrowinning of base and precious metals.

Ready to take the next step?

Contact us today to see how Metcelerate is redefining workplace-based skills development for the mining industry.

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