Senior Metallurgist - Stockpile Characterization

Why You Should Apply for This Job  

At Freeport-McMoRan, we are committed to providing an employment package that recognizes excellence, encourages safe production and a culture supported by our core values. Here, you’ll find a collaborative environment where safety is a top priority, all opinions are valued, and people are empowered to grow in their career. Apply Today!

Where You Will Work    

Our global headquarters is in Phoenix, Arizona. Several hundred employees support global operations in finance, human resources, information technology, planning and more from the main office, satellite offices or online. As a Hybrid employee, you’ll engage in virtual collaboration as well as attend in-person meetings at our Collaboration Hub in Phoenix or at one of our site locations. The Collaboration Hub provides an open, flexible workspace for individuals and teams to come together for various business needs. Amenities at the Hub include a working café, phone booths and meeting rooms with technology tools for virtual and in-person collaboration. In-person attendance may vary based on the position and department requirements. 

Phoenix is the capital of the Grand Canyon State and enjoys mostly bright skies throughout the year. It is the perfect place if you enjoy the outdoors, love sports, concerts and other big city amenities or technology. There are great neighborhoods around Phoenix, with easy access to a major city, nature, the arts and many more amenities.  

What You Will Do

This is a pivotal role supporting the Stockpile Characterization Manager in establishing and executing a formalized, auditable stockpile characterization process to support the Leach to the Last Drop (L2LD) project’s copper recovery improvement initiatives. This position is critical in enabling the validation of the Previously-Assumed-Unrecoverable (PAU) Copper model by overseeing day-to-day in-field activities related to planning, sampling, handling, logistics, sample preparation, and assaying for all leaching operations.

• Operational Support for Stockpile Characterization: Assist in developing and implementing day-to-day procedures for stockpile characterization, including planning, sampling, sample handling, logistics, preparation, and assaying.
• Stakeholder Coordination and In-Field Oversight: Maintain a significant in-field presence to liaise with and coordinate stakeholders, including drill planning teams, geologists, engineers, leaching operations, drilling contractors, in-field labor, and laboratories. Oversee execution of characterization activities, troubleshooting and resolving issues to ensure seamless operations and adherence to committed turnaround times.
• Alignment with L2LD Initiatives: Collaborate with the Stockpile Characterization Manager to prioritize characterization activities on stockpiles critical to L2LD initiatives, mitigating risks associated with impact assumptions. Support the integration of characterization data into L2LD workplans to quantify and validate recovery improvements.
• Sensoring and Precision Leaching: Work closely with the instrumentation team to establish sensoring standards (e.g., flowmeters, temperature/oxygen probes, chemistry sensors) for new material placements. Contribute to characterizing ore properties and quantifying the impact of L2LD initiatives through sensor-driven data collection and analysis.
• Metallurgical Expertise and Process Improvement: Apply strong metallurgical knowledge to evaluate and enhance data quality, developing methodologies to quantify L2LD impacts using first principles. Document processes by compiling SOPs, protocols, and technical papers to ensure compliance with a formalized, auditable stockpile characterization process.

What You Bring To Freeport

• Bachelor’s degree in Metallurgy, Chemistry or related Engineering discipline and five (5) years of experience in Metallurgy or related scientific field OR
• Master’s degree in Metallurgy, Chemistry or related Engineering discipline and three (3) years of experience in Metallurgy or related scientific field
• Proficiency in sampling methodologies, assaying, and laboratory analysis for stockpile characterization.
• Familiarity with stockpile modeling software and data integration tools.
• Knowledge of sensoring technologies (e.g., flowmeters, temperature/oxygen probes, chemistry sensors) for precision leaching.
• Strong understanding of metallurgical principles and their application to copper recovery.
• Experience working in-field with cross-functional teams, including geology, engineering, and operations.
• Ability to coordinate with external contractors (e.g., drilling, labor, assaying services) and manage logistics.<