Sheldon Govender

• Reduced costs by eliminating materials waste and unnecessary labor hours.
• Managed direction and planning for plant with focus on optimization of daily functions and achieving KPIs.
• Optimized processes to maximize efficiency.
• Directed employees and related programs to maximize team productivity and facility output.
• Managed personnel by implementing company policies, procedures, work rules, and disciplinary action.
• Oversaw daily operations of Cobalt Sulfate production and residue handling plants

• Responsible for the Cobalt Sulfate production circuit equipped with Leaching, Solvent Extraction and Vacuum Crystallization.
• Provided technical support to the team using trend analysis and data analytics on day-to-day operation of the plant in order to achieve production targets in line with business requirements.
• Initiated and drove projects to increase the sustainability and improve the overall quality and recovery of the circuit.
• Developed documentation, diagrams and specifications to meet project requirements and regulatory standards.
• Organized and conducted HAZOPS and job risk assessments associated with various projects.
• Rolled out new maintenance tactics that has reduced the amount of equipment breakdowns and improved the overall circuit runtime and stability.
• Analyzed critical data to make recommendations for improvement.
• Conducted root cause analysis to identify, prioritize and eliminate process losses.
• Implementation of a new operating philosophy with more robust systems that has since resulted in a record low of impurity entrainment in the final product as well as a sustained 15% increase in Cobalt recovery across the solvent extraction circuit.
• Coached newly hired employees and interns while observing progress and delegating tasks.
• Created process simulations to test operational outcomes without causing service disruptions.
• Assisted with cost monitoring and adherence to the budget of the section as well as setting up of budgets for the following year.

Courses completed:

1st year -

• Introduction to Hydro Metallurgy - University of Cape Town
• Essential tools for Statistics - University of Queensland
• Mineralogy - University of Pretoria

2nd year -

• Pyrometallurgy (Refractories) - University of Pretoria
• Pyrometallurgy (Thermodynamics) - University of Pretoria
• Applied Thermodynamics - Anglo and University of Witwatersrand
• Comminution - University of Cape Town
• Flotation -University of Cape Town
• Scientific Methods and Sampling- University of Cape Town
• JKSimMet- University of Cape Town
• Data Analytics (Python) - Stone 3