Sonny is a PhD Candidate at the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC), within the Sustainable Minerals Institute at The University of Queensland.
A metallurgical professional with more than 20 years of international experience, Sonny specialises in comminution, mineral processing, and mine-to-mill optimisation. Throughout his career, he has supported mining operations worldwide in the design, evaluation, and implementation of process technologies, plant surveys, crushing and milling optimisation, and metallurgical improvement initiatives aimed at maximising operational performance and reducing costs.
Sonny has held a range of technical and leadership positions across the mining industry, including Graduate Metallurgical Engineer at Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), Principal Metallurgist at Anglo American Research, Process Engineer at Metso Process Technology & Innovation, Senior Metallurgical Advisor at Newcrest Mining, Lead Metallurgist at First Quantum Minerals' Kansanshi Mine, and Technical Expert (Comminution) at Freeport Indonesia. He currently serves as Principal Process Engineer - Mills with Bradken.
He holds a Bachelor of Mineral Sciences (with Merit) from the University of Zambia School of Mines and a Master of Science from the University of Cape Town's Centre for Minerals Research. His master's research focused on segregation in low aspect ratio SAG mills, reflecting his long-standing interest and expertise in comminution and grinding circuit optimisation.