(Biography from 2008) Pranatharthi (Amar) Amarnath graduated from chemical engineering with honours from the University of Madras, India, in 1967. In 1971, he received a M.Sc. in chemical engineering from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Amarnath joined Sherritt Gordon Mines in 1973 in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, as a process engineer. His early work experiences included pilot plant studies specializing in agitation and mixing of solids, liquids and gases in horizontal autoclaves.

In 1979, Amarnath joined the nickel refinery as a senior production engineer and in 1991, was appointed the project manager responsible for developing a new cobalt hexammine process for the treatment of Moa sulphides.

Amarnath became the director of information technology for Sherritt in 1993, where he supervised a project in developing a unique architecture to integrate vertically the real-time systems in the production plants to the transactional systems.

Amarnath started his own consulting company in 2001, and is currently working as a senior consultant for Sherritt in developing clean coal technology for western Canadian coals that includes coal gasification, mechanical and chemical separation of impurities from coal.