Mintek Executive

Dr Malesela Jones Papo is the Group Executive: Mining Materials and Automation. He is a graduate in BSc (Chemistry & Mathematics) and MSc (Applied Science in Materials Engineering) from the University of Cape Town (UCT). He started his career at the De Beers Research Laboratories (now Element Six). He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for M.S (Materials Engineering) and PhD (Materials Engineering) studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where he graduated in 2001. He held a joint appointment at UAB and Vista Engineering as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow/Research Engineer from 2001 to 2002 where he worked on a Metals Affordability Initiative (MIA) consortium research programme led by the US Department of Defence’s Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio and USA. He subsequently joined the Department of Physics at UAB as a Research Fellow where he worked on a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded project on Nanocrystalline Diamond Coatings for Hip and Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Medical Implants from 2002 –2004. Dr Papo joined Mintek in 2004 as a Chief Scientist in the Advanced Materials Division and he became the Divisional Manager in 2012 until his recent appointment. Dr Papo’s current interest is in technology transfer and commercialisation of R&D outcomes.