Meet Our Founder

About John Vagenas

John is a process engineer with over 20 years’ experience in the mining and minerals industry. He has a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons.) in Industrial Chemistry from UNSW, and has worked as a Company Director since 2006. He is the founder and Managing Director of three prominent industry organisations: Metallurgical Systems, Industrial Sustainability Solutions and Elemental Engineering (founded 2006)—a consulting firm that provides world-leading process simulation and design services to the minerals processing industry.

John is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and has also served as an Alternate Director of Austmine (October 2019 – Dec 2023). He supports and contributes to a range of industry events and publications. This has included presenting as keynote speaker for Metplant 2023, on global best practice metallurgical plant design and operating strategies, as well as AusIMM’s 2021 thought-leadership series and 2022 series on technology and decarbonisation.

John’s key areas of expertise include:

• Mining’s metallurgical accounting, production reporting and process optimisation – John is a subject matter expert and has travelled the globe to consult on some of the world’s most complex mining and minerals processes. He has built and tested hundreds of steady-state and dynamic process simulation models using his extensive knowledge across Ni, Cu, Co, Zn, Au, U, PGM’s, Li, Va to name a few.
• Digital transformation—he has practical and in-depth understanding of the technology challenges faced by the sector and what is required to ensure continued growth and profitability.
• Sustainability/ESG objectives—he has implemented ESG measurement and optimisation solutions for several of the world’s most successful mining and metals organisations and is actively working to fast-tracking the sector’s overall evolution in this area.
• Mining’s skills shortage— he believes strongly in the need to make mining more diverse, inclusive and attractive to the next generation of talented workers, and currently facilitates a range of graduate/mentoring opportunities to support this.

If you have any questions relating to our credentials, please get in touch.