Selo Ndlovu

About

Sehliselo (Selo) Ndlovu is a professor in the School of Mining Engineering and Mineral Resources at the University of Arizona. She holds a BSc in metallurgical engineering from the University of Zimbabwe and a PhD in minerals engineering from Imperial College, London UK. With over 20 years of experience in extractive metallurgy and hydrometallurgy, her research focuses on the sustainable recovery of critical and precious metals from diverse sources. Ndlovu is internationally recognized for her work in mineral characterization, leaching and bioleaching, solvent extraction, and the processing of low grade and refractory ores, as well as the treatment and valorization of mine tailings, metallurgical waste, and acid mine drainage. Her research integrates fundamental mineral–solution and mineral–microbe interactions with applied process and flowsheet development to enable scalable metal recovery technologies, particularly for rare earth elements, copper, cobalt, platinum group elements, and gold. Prior to her current role, she held several senior academic and research leadership positions, including serving as a South African Research Chair in Hydrometallurgy and Sustainable Development. She has led large multidisciplinary, multinational research programs, supervised more than 50 graduate students, and collaborated extensively with industry partners to translate research into deployable technologies. Her career reflects a strong commitment to advancing sustainable mining…

Research topics

• Waste management
• Engineering
• Chemistry
• Environmental science
• Organic chemistry
• Chemical engineering
• Business
• Chromatography
• Environmental chemistry
• Environmental engineering

Selected publications

• Dry Magnetic Separation and the Leaching Behaviour of Aluminium, Iron, Titanium, and Selected Rare Earth Elements (REEs) from Coal Fly Ash

  Minerals · 2025-01-25 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Coal fly ash (CFA) is a commercially viable source of alumina comparable to traditional bauxite deposits. Due to its high silica content and alumina in the refractory mullite phase, the most suitable processing technique is the sinter-H2SO4 leach process. However, this process is energy-intensive, has low selectivity for Al, and generates a secondary solid waste residue. To develop a sustainable process that is economically attractive, Al can be extracted with REEs, Ti, and Fe as saleable produc…

  PublisherDOI

• Extraction of Gold from Tailings Using Ethaline Deep Eutectic Solvent

  Minerals · 2024-12-05 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  For over a century, cyanidation has been a highly effective method for extracting gold from gold-bearing sources. However, due to environmental, health, and safety concerns associated with this process, considerable efforts have been devoted to exploring the use of alternative, less toxic, and environmentally friendly reagents. In this study, a comparative cyanide and ethaline deep eutectic solvent (DES) leaching study of gold from the Witwatersrand gold tailings was undertaken. A Statistical De…

  PublisherDOI

• An optimized recovery of cobalt and tungsten carbide (WC) from a binary-phase WC-6 wt%Co cemented tungsten carbide hardmetal using design of experiments

  Minerals Engineering · 2025-07-15 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  • Selective co-recovery of Co and WC achieved via sulphate-based leaching. • Temperature identified as dominant factor controlling cobalt dissolution kinetics. • WC phase preserved during leaching, yielding virgin-quality fine particles. • High-purity cobalt recovered via electroplating with 91.9% current efficiency. • Tungsten recovery as scheelite demonstrates potential for closed-loop processing. Tungsten extraction from scheelite and wolframite ores is a well-established process. However, co…

  PublisherDOI

• From Single-Sensor Constraints to Multisensor Integration: Advancing Sustainable Complex Ore Sorting

  Minerals · 2025-10-23 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Processing complex ore remains a challenge due to energy-intensive grinding and complex beneficiation and pyrometallurgical treatments that consume large amounts of water whilst generating significant waste and polluting the environment. Sensor-based ore sorting, which separates ore particles based on their physical or chemical properties before downstream processing, is emerging as a transformative technology in mineral processing. However, its application to complex and heterogeneous ores rema…

  PublisherDOI

• Cloud Point Extraction of Platinum Group Metal solutions: Key factors in metal extraction and selective elution at low concentrations

  Microchemical Journal · 2025-07-31 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Platinum group metals are leached from spent autocatalytic converters and other end-of-life products, producing Platinum group metal concentrations below 500 ppm compared to 15,000 ppm from commercial concentrates. Conventional solvent extraction and precipitation methods are inefficient for processing end-of-life leachates, but Cloud Point Extraction shows promise for recovering trace Platinum group metals with minimal environmental impact. However, literature on Platinum group metal Cloud Poin…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Geoffrey S. Simate

  University of the Witwatersrand

  37 shared

• A. Shemi

  University of the Witwatersrand

  19 shared

• Elias Matinde

  Mintek

  18 shared

• Peter Apata Olubambi

  9 shared

• V. Sibanda

  University of the Witwatersrand

  8 shared

• Liberty Chipise

  7 shared

• J.H. Potgieter

  University of the Witwatersrand

  6 shared

• Clarence S. Yah

  6 shared

Similar researchers at University of Arizona

• Bo Hyun Kimh-16
• Isabel Bartonh-16
• Kray Luxbacherh-15