Neilesh joined ANSTO Minerals in 2015 as a Senior Hydrometallurgist with over 20 years of experience. At ANSTO Minerals, he overseas project management and test work services pertaining to the commodities of energy production and storage (i.e. high purity quartz, copper, uranium and vanadium). He specialises in separation science technologies that includes the techniques of adsorption, ion exchange, solvent extraction, crystallisation and precipitation.

Prior to joining ANSTO, he was employed as a Chargé d’affaires with AREVA (now known as ORANO) at Bessines-sur-Gartempe France) for six years, where he was responsible for supporting the front-end nuclear fuel cycle activities in the areas of business development, operational support, project studies, test work services and research and development programs.

Before AREVA, he was employed as a Process Development Metallurgist for six years at Intec Ltd, where he contributed to the development of the company’s proprietary halide-based hydrometallurgical processes, ranging from bench-top through to demonstration scale for base and precious metals recoveries.

Neilesh holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) undergraduate degree from James Cook University, specialising in Industrial Chemistry and a Doctoral postgraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from The University of Sydney, specialising in Mineral Processing.

Neilesh is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and since 2017, he has been an active member of the local (Sydney) branch.