Full First Name(s)
Rodney Trevor
Title (honorific)
Prof
Academic Qualifications
PhD (2015, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa); MEng (1990, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa); BA (1987, University of South Africa, South Africa); BEng (1983, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa)
Brief Biography (English)

Prof Rodney Jones is a Chemical Engineer and Metallurgist with over 35 years of pyrometallurgical experience in a wide variety of processes that have been taken from concept to industrial implementation.

He is a Past President and an Honorary Life Fellow of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) – a professional institute that looks after the interests of almost 5 000 mining and metallurgical engineers.

Prof Jones has worked for over thirty-five years in the Pyrometallurgy Division at Mintek - an internationally recognized minerals research organization, based in Randburg, South Africa.

He holds a BEng degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, a BA degree in Logic and Philosophy from the University of South Africa, and MEng and PhD degrees in Metallurgical Engineering from Wits University.

He has been a registered Professional Engineer since 1988. Prof Jones' main Research interests are in the field of computer simulation and design of high-temperature processes, and the development of thermodynamic software.

He is the Author of Pyrosim software, for the steady-state simulation of pyrometallurgical processes. This software has been used in 22 countries around the world. Prof Jones has also been Part of the Team that developed processes for the large-scale industrial application of direct-current arc furnace technology to the smelting of chromite in South Africa and Kazakhstan, ilmenite smelting in South Africa, cobalt recovery from slags in Zambia, battery recycling in Switzerland, and ferronickel production in New Caledonia.

He is one of the Inventors of the internationally patented ConRoast process – an environmentally friendly way of recovering platinum group metals from ores that are otherwise very difficult to process. Prof Jones is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), the South African Institute of Chemical Engineers (SAIChE), and the South African Academy of Engineering (SAAE), as well as a Member of the Royal Society of South Africa.

He is an Honorary Adjunct Professor in the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand and has previously held Visiting Positions at the Center for Pyrometallurgy, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, USA (1996), and at Murdoch University, Perth, Australia (2002–2003).

Job Title
Senior Technical Specialist
Primary Organisation
Mintek, South Africa
Website Address for Primary Organisation
African Country
South Africa
African Region
Southern Africa

Profile Photo