Frank K. Crundwell is Director of Crundwell Metallurgy Limited, London, UK, CM Solutions (Pty) Ltd and is a Visiting Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. He has worked in research institutes, industrial refineries, academia and consultancies. He founded CM Solutions back in 2002, a sustainable laboratory and consultancy to the metallurgical industry. It develops flowsheets for a large variety of metals, such as copper, cobalt, gold platinum-group metals, nickel, and zinc, with a current focus on high purity products. Frank has more than 40 years' experience in studying dissolution reactions, and more than 70 publications in the area. He has been awarded the Milton E. Wadsworth Award of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration for "innovative, rigorous contributions that have enhanced fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of oxidative and non-oxidative leaching of minerals including sulfides, oxides and silicates?. He was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering (US) for this work.

He has contributed to and solved several debates in the field: (i) how bacteria interact with minerals, (ii) mechanisms of quartz and silica dissolution (iii) how impurities impact dissolution. In addition, he has contributed to the electrochemical theory of dissolution, extending it to apply to dissolution of semiconductors. He previously co-authored the Elsevier book Extractive Metallurgy of Nickel, Cobalt and Platinum Group Metals (2011) with Michael Moats, Venkoba Ramachandran, Timothy Robinson, and W. G. Davenport.

Overview; Nickel Occurrence, Production, Use and Price; Production of Ferronickel and Nickel from Laterite Ore - Ore Upgrading; Smelting Laterite Concentrates to Ferronickel - Dewatering and Calcination/Reduction; Smelting Laterite Concentrates to Ferronickel - Electric Furnace Reduction/Melting; Refining Ferronickel; Smelting Laterite Concentrates to Sulfide Matte; Roasting Ni Matte to Oxide and Metal; Capture of SO2 as Sulfuric Acid; Hydrometallurgy of Laterite ores - Overview and High Temperature Sulfuric Acid Leaching; Solid/Liquid Separation; Solution Purification and Sulfide Precipitation; Extraction of Nickel from Sulfide ores - Introduction and Concentrate Production; Smelting Sulfide Concentrates - Introduction and Electric Furnace Smelting; Flash Smelting Ni Sulfide Concentrates; Oxidizing Molten Smelting Furnace Matte (Converting); Separation of Matte into Three Phases; Carbonyl Refining of Impure Ni Metal; Hydrometallurgical Production of High Purity Nickel from Ni Sulfide Intermediates; Co/Ni Separation and Solution Purification; Electrowinning and H2 Reduction of Nickel and Cobalt; Cobalt Occurrence, Production, Use and Price; Extraction of Cobalt from Sulfide Ores; Extraction of Cobalt from Laterite Ores; Extraction of Cobalt from Central African Co-Cu Ores; Platinum Group Metal Occurrence, Production, Use and Price; Production of Pt Sulfide Concentrates; Smelting Pt Concentrates to Matte; Preparing Pt Refinery Feed from Matte; Pt Group Metal Refining; Recycling of Nickel, Cobalt and Platinum Group Metals. Appendices A Metal Properties; B Stoichiometric Data; C Thermodynamic Data; D Minor processes - e.g. Moroccan Arsenic Ore Processing