Hydrometal L.L.C. is pleased to announce that its president, Dr. W. Joseph Schlitt, P.E., Q.P., was the recipient of two awards presented by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) during its Annual Meeting held in Denver, CO in February 2007. 
 
The Society recognized Dr. Schlitt as one of its Krumb Distinguished Lecturers for 2006-2007.  His lecture entitled, “The History of Forced Aeration in Copper Sulfide Leaching” was originally presented at the 2006 SME Annual Meeting in St. Louis, MO.
 
The Mineral Processing Division of SME presented Dr. Schlitt with this year’s Arthur F. Taggart Award for his peer-reviewed paper “Kennecott’s Million Ton Test Heap--The Active Leach Program,” which was published in Minerals & Metallurgical Processing, Vol. 23 (2006).  This award was first presented in 1973 to recognize the author or authors of the best paper published by SME during the previous two years, and Dr. Schlitt becomes the first person from industry to win the award twice; joining only two other distinguished professors to have received it multiple times. 
 
Dr. Schlitt graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie-Mellon University, in 1964 with a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering.  He then obtained a Ph.D. in Metallurgy from the Pennsylvania State University in 1968.  After graduation, he spent the next 36 years working for either operating mining companies or large engineering firms serving the mining industry.  In 2004 he formed Hydrometal L.L.C., which provides specialized consulting services to the world-wide minerals industry.