Richard Diaz Alorro

Curtin University

Dr Richard Alorro is a research and teaching academic and a professional Metallurgical Engineer with over 14 years of experience in the fields of Metallurgical Engineering, and Resources and Geo-Environmental Engineering. He is currently a Senior Lecturer and Undergraduate Course Coordinator of Metallurgical Engineering at the Western Australian School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, Curtin University, Australia. His research areas include leaching and separation technologies, technospheric mining and resources recycling, processing of critical and strategic metals, waste treatment and environmental remediation. Dr Alorro’s research projects and grants include extraction of rare earth elements from phosphate minerals, scandium from nickel laterite, precious metals recovery from aqueous solution, waste carbon/graphite recycling, and processing of battery minerals (lithium, nickel, cobalt, etc.). He supervised and led a team of Higher Degree by Research students working on projects/research sponsored by the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia, Future Battery Industries-CRC, overseas research institutes, and mining companies in Australia. Dr Alorro is also actively involved in global positioning initiatives with collaborations and engagements in various universities and institutions in Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. Dr Alorro obtained his BS in Metallurgical Engineering degree from the Philippines and completed both his Master of Engineering and PhD degrees in Resources and Geo-Environmental Engineering from Hokkaido University (Japan) with a scholarship grant from Japan's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEXT). From his work, he published papers in leading international journals, attended and presented in several international conferences, granted a patent, and received a Young Author Award from the International Mineral Processing Congress (IMPC) in 2010. Prior to joining Curtin University in 2013, he was Corporate Metallurgist for the Department of Metals and Mineral Resources of Toyota Tsusho Corporation (Nagoya, Japan), the trading house of the Toyota Group, and was involved in the development of refining processes and management of related technology required for rare earths and rare metals processing.