Hugo Javier Arango Paternina Email & Phone Number

Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia

Leading a crew of talented engineers and technicians at the Engineering Department of Weir Minerlas Colombia I'm responsible for managing all the available resources (people, facilities, tools) to bring technical sound solutions to attend the needs of our clients in the mining sector located in the caribbean countries (Centroamerica- excluding Mexico - Dominican Republic, Colombia, Guyanas, Surinam, Ecuador).This team is responsible for the proper equipment selection, process simulation, commissioning support and servicing of our equipment and engineering solutions, from primary crushing to final tails management, involving crushers, screens, slurry pumps, hydrocyclones, and its peripherals. From greenfield and brownfield projects to small and custom made solutions.

Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia

Responsible for the metallurgical lab and the assay lab and providing suport to mine operations and ore processing plant which was comprissed by crushing, grinding (SAG and ball mill), gravity concentration, Tank leaching, CCD, Merrill Crowe, Smelting and tailing filtering.

Medellín

Directly reporting to the Improvement & Technology Manager in Australia and working for the Planning and Development regional function in CMSA I led the Technology team and contractors involved in the identification and development of business improvement/growth alternatives in the long term.Main Achievements:• Identification of a hydrometallurgical alternative for the processing of CMSA’s laterite ores, such alternative become to be part of the business strategy.• Development of a model to estimate the viscosity and the electrical resistivity of molten slag and the impedance of the electric arc furnace with the aim to forecast and improve the furnace’s operation considering the LOMP.• Development of several mineralogical characterization studies and ore processing tests (lab and pilot scale) associated to capital projects.• Setting of a new and wider chemical specification for the ore to be processed preventing the increase of production costs due to the processing of lower ore grade.• Led the commissioning and ramp up in a successful and safe way of a new Off-Gas Cleaning System (OGS L2 Project) for the Electric furnace #2, such a project was part of the Agreement with the Government to implement clean technologies.• Identification of alternative energy sources (Biomass) for the combustion process in rotary driers and rotary kilns.• Led the laboratory tests plans for the tank leaching process which was considered as an alternative ore process demonstrating its technical feasibility.• Led the relationships of CMSA with external agents in the academic sector (Universities and labs) and with national/international engineering companies.• Acted as the business’s intellectual property stewardship.

Montelibano, Colombia

Montelibano

Responsible for leading and providing technical support to several studies and projects inside the company’s growing and development strategy.Main Achievements:• Led the metallurgical assessment (testing and modeling) of several ore blends considered into the long term mining plans, demonstrating its feasibility to be processed into the existing pyrometallurgical plant.• Optimization of the process design criteria for the new Off-gas cleaning system (OGS L2 project), reaching a better performance of the new system compared to previously implemented system in the furnace L1.• Led the development of conceptual studies related to the SCOP project (Slag Chemistry Optimization Project) which was aimed for the relaxation of existing ore chemical specs to increase Nickel production and reduce processing costs. With these studies it was generated the required knowledge for its implementation.

Montelibano

Responsible for analyzing the performance of the metallurgical process and for the setting of corrective actions tending to improve and assure the process efficiency, process and people safety and low production costs.Main Achievements:• Significant reduction in Nickel production losses related to the slag handling system (reduction of 88% the first year and 77% in the second year).• Significant reduction (90%) in steam explosion events in the slag granulation system.• Commissioning and startup of the new Off-gas Cleaning System for the electric furnace #1 (OGS L1 project).• Winner of the “Excellence Price” in the health category during the BHP Billiton HSE Awards – 2012 with the project “Elimination of the exposure to Coal Tar Pitch Volatiles”.Development and implementation of a predictive model for the processing plant (RKEF system) based on the understanding of physicochemical properties of ores and slags and its effects on the operation of the RKEF system, reducing deviations of the production plan.• Optimization of the ore fines handling system (pneumatic transport and agglomeration systems), reducing its environmental impact and improving the metallurgical recovery.• Provided technical support in the process engineering discipline for the NOSS project (New Ore Smelting System) acting as process engineer for the commissioning and startup of the new Electric Arc Furnace #1.• Led the process engineering discipline of the BFO Project (Burner Fuel Optimization), obtaining the approval for the Detailed Engineering Study. The aim of this project was to reduce the processing costs by the substitution of kilns and dryers fuel from natural gas to pulverized coal.• Led the process engineering discipline of the MFO Project (Management of Fines), the aim of this project was to increase the overall nickel recovery in around 2% by the improvement of the mechanical resistance of agglomerates.

Materials Engineer, Engineering

M. Eng. - Recursos Minerales, Minería Y Metalúrgia, 2017