Project Director

The Company

The world’s leading supplier of mineral-based specialty solutions for industry with 14,000 employees, operations in more than 40 countries, and €4.3 billion in revenue in 2022.

Imerys delivers high-value-added, functional solutions to a great number of sectors, from processing industries to consumer goods. The Group draws on its understanding of applications, technological knowledge and expertise in material science to deliver solutions by beneficiating its mineral resources, synthetic minerals and formulations. Imerys’ solutions contribute essential properties to customers’ products and their performance, including heat resistance, hardness, conductivity, opacity, durability, purity, lightness, filtration, absorption and water repellency. Imerys is determined to develop responsibly, in particular by fostering the emergence of environmentally-friendly products and processes.If you want to grow your skills and develop your career, find out more at www.imerys.com

The Position

Project Director

Job Summary

The Company - Imerys British Lithium 

In 2023, Imerys, the world leader in mineral-based speciality solutions, acquired an 80%  stake in British Lithium. The transaction brought together Imerys’s expertise in mining,  infrastructure in Cornwall, R&D and process development capabilities, as well as its  lithium mineral resources, with British Lithium’s bespoke technology and state-of-the-art  lithium pilot plant, which recently produced battery-grade lithium carbonate.  The project is currently at a pre-feasibility study stage for the extraction and beneficiation of lithium for Lithium-Ion  batteries. The total initial capex of the project is estimated to  be between £500m and £1bn.

The wider Imerys Group is the world’s leading supplier of mineral-based specialty solutions for industry with 14,000 employees, operations in more than 40 countries, and €4.3 billion in revenue in 2022.  Imerys delivers high-value-added, functional solutions to a great number of sectors, from processing industries to consumer goods. The Group draws on its understanding of applications, technological knowledge and expertise in material science to deliver solutions by beneficiating its mineral resources, synthetic minerals and formulations. Imerys’ solutions contribute essential properties to customers’ products and their performance, including heat resistance, hardness, conductivity, opacity, durability, purity, lightness, filtration, absorption and water repellency. Imerys is determined to develop responsibly, in particular by fostering the emergence of environmentally-friendly products and processes.

The Opportunity 

The Project Director will lead an end-to-end (from project definition to mechanical completion) capital industrial asset project in Cornwall.  They will lead a multidisciplinary team towards achieving all the technical targets and  cost schedule of the project.  

The role  

The Project Director will report directly to the Vice President for Lithium projects (within Performance Minerals EMEA) for  Imerys and will be responsible for the implementation and  execution of this lithium project managing it from its current position  through feasibility, design and construction stages to full  execution and project start-up.  

The Project Director will also lead the development of our  project management team, systems and tools, review and  implement best of breed engineering/projects standards,  and well as to coordinate the overall technical and non technical deliverables for the various stages of the project  (i.e. PFS, DFS or FEL 2/FEL 3). 

Deliverables of the role include:

• Project delivery in scope, budget, and quality with  a strong focus on Safety, in particular UK requirements

• Develop & coordinate comprehensive project reports  (PFS, DFS reports) according to best industry practices and  Imerys standards. 

• Define project execution, project management and governance strategy and project execution  plan

• Prepare required project updates for Board or Steering  committee. 

• Be one of the Company’s representatives in public/media representation of the project  representing IBL jointly with Imerys. 

Essential Criteria 

• Experienced in similar mining and processing international/multicultural businesses/large industrial projects (e.g. lithium or other metals) or in heavy  industry processing e.g. speciality  chemicals and cement. 

• Dual experience Greenfield / Brownfield (kiln or mills  reparation, replacement, and transformation of process  units to improve safety, reliability, and /or  performances). 

• Preference for exp