Sustainable Minerals Institute

John Thella

PhD Candidate
JKMRC

John S Thella has 7 years of experience in developing solutions for complex mineral processing projects. Key responsibilities in his previous positions include but were not limited to process flow sheet development for various ores and coal, metallurgical testing, business development, supply chain management, project management and sales.

John is presently working as a PhD research scholar at JKMRC in the area of complex double refractory Gold ores flotation, a flagship project of Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada.

Researcher biography

Industrial/Professional Experience:

2008-2012, Researcher, Tata Steel Limited, India

2012-2014, Mining manager-India subcontinent, Clariant Chemicals (India) Limited

Patents

  1. Patent filed on Hydro cyclone for iron ore slimes beneficiation (Application No: 520/KOL/2010/10.05.2010)
  2. Patent filed on Iron slime beneficiation for fraction below 45 microns (Application No: 816/KOL/2010/ 26.07.2010)

Awards/Scholarships

JKTech Mining Leaders’ Program: JKTech mining leaders’ program (2015-2016) graduate (executive management development program)

UQ-IPRS and UQ-Cent Scholarship: Recipient of The University of Queensland’s International Postgraduate Research Scholarship and Centennial Scholarship to pursue doctoral studies in mining/mineral engineering

Barrick Gold Corporation project fund: To support Ph.D. research cost

Tata Innovista-2010: Bagged with the prestigious Tata Innovista Award in promising innovations category for the project “Iron ore slime-A threat turned into Opportunity.”

Aspire Award 2010: Apex Aspire award 2010 by Tata Steel Limited for the project “Iron ore slime beneficiation.”

MHRD-GATE Scholarship: Awarded scholarship for M.Tech studies by Government of India

Research Interests

  • Flotation Surface Chemistry
  • Complex Refractory Gold Ores Flotation
  • Sulfidic Ores Flotation
  • Solution Chemistry
  • Process Mineralogy
  • Mineral Processing

Publications

Journal Articles (3)
Conference Papers (8)
Thesis (1)

Journal Articles

Mukherjee, A. K., Thella, J. S., Makhija, D., Patra, A. S., Manna, M. and Ghosh, T. K. (2015). Process to recover iron values from high alumina Indian iron ore slime - a bench scale study. Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review, 36 (1), 39-44. doi: 10.1080/08827508.2013.867854
Thella, John Samuel, Mukherjee, Asim Kumar and Srikakulapu, N. Gurulaxmi (2012). Processing of high alumina iron ore slimes using classification and flotation. Powder Technology, 217, 418-426. doi: 10.1016/j.powtec.2011.10.058
Thella, John Samuel and Venugopal, R. (2011). Modeling of iron ore pelletization using 3**(k-p) factorial design of experiments and polynomial surface regression methodology. Powder Technology, 211 (1), 54-59. doi: 10.1016/j.powtec.2011.03.027

Conference Papers

Thella, John, Farrokhpay, Saeed and Nguyen, Anh V. (2015). The influence of water quality on sulfide mineral flotation – a review. APCChE 2015 Congress incorporating Chemeca 2015, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 27 September - 1 October 2015. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Engineers Australia.
Gurulaxmi, N., Thella, John and Dixit, P. (2012). Flotation studies of banded hematite jasper iron ores. 26th International Mineral Processing Congress - IMPC 2012, New Delhi, India, 24 - 28 September 2012. New Delhi, India: Indian Institute of Metals.
Thella, John Samuel, Manna, Manindra, Mukherjee, Asim Kumar and Banerjee, Pradip Kumar (2011). Zeta potential: holistic approach to control electro-kinetics in dispersion-selective flocculation systems. MPT-2011: XII International Conference on Mineral Processing Technology, Udaipur, India, 20-22 October, 2011.
Thella, John, Jha, M. K., Gurulaxmi, N. and Mukherjee, A. K. (2011). Classification of high alumina iron ore slimes. 12th International Seminar on Mineral Processing Technology (MPT-2011), Udaipur, India, 20 - 22 October 2011.
Gurulaxmi, S. N., Mukherjee, A. K. and Thella, John Samuel (2011). Feasibility study for beneficiation of banded hematite jasper iron ores. MPT-2011: XII International Conference on Mineral Processing Technology, Udaipur, India, 20-22 October, 2011.
Anupam, E. A., Thella, John, Gurulaxmi, N. and Mukherjee, A. K. (2011). Characterization studies of -1.0mm coal fines of West Bokaro Collieries. 12th International Seminar on Mineral Processing Technology (MPT-2011), Udaipur, India, 20 - 22 October 2011.
Thella, John, Mukherjee, A. K. and Rajshekar, Y. (2010). Recovering iron values from iron ore slimes using cationic and anionic collectors. XIth International Seminar on Mineral Processing Technology (MPT 2010), Jamshedpur, India, 15 - 17 December 2010.
Thella, John and Venugopal, R. (2008). Modeling of iron ore pelletization. International Conference on Mineral Processing Technology (MPT 2008), Trivandrum, India, 15 - 17 December 2008.

Thesis

Thella, John (2018). The influence of mineralogy and surface chemistry on flotation of Cortez complex carbonaceous double refractory gold ore. PhD Thesis, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2018.795