John MonhemiusEmeritus Professor John Monhemius held the Roy Wright Chair in Mineral and Environmental Engineering at the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London, until December 2004, when he retired from full-time academic work. For the last four years of his career at Imperial College, he was Dean of the Royal School of Mines.  He holds a BSc(Eng) degree in minerals engineering from the University of Birmingham, an MASc degree in metallurgical engineering from the University of British Columbia and a PhD in hydrometallurgy from the University of London. He is a chartered engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3).

Professor Monhemius has more than 40 years experience of academic and industrial research and development in hydrometallurgy and environmental control in mining and metallurgical processes, particularly in the management of toxic wastes and effluents, and he has acted as a consultant to many large mining and chemical companies. From 1979-96, he was technical advisor to the Hydrometallurgy R&D group of Interox Ltd, one of the world’s three largest manufacturers of hydrogen peroxide, He has published over 130 papers in scientific and technical journals and conferences and has supervised more than 30 PhD students.  He was a co-founder and director of Consort Research Ltd., a consultancy specialising in gold and base metal ore processing.  In 1994, he received the Gold Medal of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy for research into the extraction of gold and in 1995, the MIRO John Phillips Medal for innovation for the development of methods for the disposal of arsenic. Currently, he is a member of the National Council of the IOM3 and is Board Chairman of the Division of Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy.  He is also chairman of the recently-formed International Mining and Minerals Association (IMMa).