Niels Verbaan holds a Master’s in Mining Engineering from Delft University of Technology, Netherlands and a Master’s in Hydrometallurgy from McGill University. He has over 25 years of experience in the minerals industry. He began his career at Lakefield Research (now SGS) in 2000 and held roles in Belgium and Canada before becoming director of technical services (hydrometallurgy) at SGS. In this position, he advises clients, management, and SGS global operations and sales teams on hydrometallurgical processing aspects of ores, concentrates and secondary feed streams.

Niels has authored over 40 technical papers, holds two patents, and has chaired biannual Processing of Critical Materials symposia since 2014. He currently serves as 3rd vice-president of MetSoc, the Metallurgical and Materials Society of CIM. His expertise includes metallurgical process development of commodities such as rare earths, scandium, nickel, cobalt, copper and other critical or minor metals, including recovery of metals from alternative feedstocks like seabed nodules and black mass.