Dr. Courtney Young, Ph.D., RM
Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering

• EMET 232 Processing Fundamentals
• EMET 234 Processing Fundamentals Lab I 
• EMET 380 M&ME Safety & Health
• EMET 401 Hydrometallurgy
• EMAT 471 Materials Characterization & Analysis
• EMET 494W M&ME Seminar
• EMET 504 Fire Assay​
• EMET 511 Materials Handling Design​
• EMET 534 Flotation​
• EMET 583 Gold Processing
• EMET 594 Graduate Seminar

2001-present         Tenured Professor, M&ME, Montana Tech, Butte, MT

1998-2019              Department Head, M&ME, Montana Tech, Butte, MT

1996-2001              Associate Professor, M&ME, Montana Tech, Butte, MT

1995-1996              Assistant Professor, M&ME, Montana Tech, Butte, MT

1994-present         Academic Fellow, CAMP, Montana Tech, Butte, MT 

1994                        Research Assistant Professor and CAMP Postdoc, Montana Tech, Butte, MT

1993                        Research Fellow and Postdoc, Mine Waste Technology Program (MWTP), Montana Tech, Butte, MT

Research Interests

Dr. Young is world renown for doing research with and for industry. His research predominantly involves mineral processing and extractive metallurgy and applying these separation technologies to critical materials, mining sustainability, recycling as well as waste treatment and minimization. Consequently, his research is broad, covering various topics: improving gold recovery, remediating cyanide, selecting and testing ores, recycling spent pot-liner, reducing energy consumption, designing flowsheets, treating acid-rock drainage, making pig-iron from slag, developing nano-particles, and doing anything involving flotation such as modeling, characterizing adsorption and other surface reactions, and analyzing new chemicals such as novel collectors for rare earth minerals and depressants for copper/moly separation. ​

Research Expertise

Dr. Young's research expertise consists of Critical Minerals, Water Treatment, Flotation, Analysis/Spectroscopy, Electrochemistry, Extractive Metallurgy, Waste Minimization, Process Engineering, Remediation, Sulfate Chemistry, Mining Sustainability, and Mineral Seperations.He graduated from 3 premiere mineral and metallurgical programs in the USA. He has been at Montana Tech for over 30 years. As faculty, he has focused his research on industrial needs, including through federal grants.  By engaging industry in this manner, graduate and undergraduate students do research on real-world projects, not only solving problems but also giving students inside tracks to jobs, both temporary internships and permanent placement. ​

Army Research Lab (with Ron White/CAMP), “Advanced Processing of REE Natural Resources,” (2015-Present).

Army Research Lab (with CAMP), “Rare Earth Processing by Flotation Using Novel Collectors and Other Reagents,” U of Alabama-Birmingham (2014).

Office of Naval Research, “REE Selective Processing by Leaching and Chelating SPCS,” (2012-2016).

NASA

• Matching Grant, “Lunar Soil Separates,” (2013).
• Travel Grant, “Lunar Soil Separates,” with Montana Space Grant Consortium at MSU-Bozeman, (2012-2013).
• Ralph Steckler/Space Grant Space Colonization Research and Technology Program, “Multiple Terrestrial Resources for Simulating Lunar Soil,” with Montana Space Grant Consortium at MSU-Bozeman, (2010).

Industrial Grants

Chevron-Phillips Chemical, “Confirmation of Orfom D8 Mechanism, Phase IV,” (2023-2024), Phases I-III, (2016-2020).

Clariant, “Characterization of Frothers,” (2020-2021).

Integrated Recycling Technologies, With A. Das As Co-PI, “PCB Recycling,” (2018-2020).

Newmont Mining Company, “Various Projects,” (2005-Present).

CAMP, “Various Projects,” (1993-Present).

• Carbothermal Reduction of Copper Smelter Slag for Recycling into Pig Iron and Glass, with P. Sarfo, G. Wyss, G. Ma and A. Das, Minerals Engineering, 107:8-19, 2017.
• Modeling and Optimization of Rare Earth Mineral Flotation Using Salicylhydroxamic Acid. R. LaDouceur and P. Amelunxen, In: XXVIII International Mineral Processing Congress, CIM, Westmount, Quebec, Canada, 2016.
• Development of a Novel Technology to Reduce Energy Consumption During Electrowinning of Copper. A. Das and F. Dakubo, In: XXVIII International Mineral Processing Congress, CIM, Westmount, Quebec, Canada, 2016.
• Xanthate Chemisorption at Copper and Chalcopyrite Surfaces, J.L. Bowden, J of SAIMM, 116:503-8, 2016.
• Utility of Mass-Balanced EH-pH Diagrams II Applications of Gibbs Rule, R.N. Gow and H. Huang, Miner. Metall. Process, 33(3):107-115, 2016.
• Spectroelectrochemistry of Enargite III: Reactivity in Alkaline Sulfide Solutions, R.N. Gow, H. Huang and G. Hope, Miner. Metall. Process, 32(1):14-21, 2015.

Montana Tech  

2019, 2009, 2003, 1998      Faculty Achievement Award​

2016                                       Lifetime Researcher Award​

2009                                       Undergraduate Research Appreciation Award​

Society of Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration

2024-2026                             Board of Directors (just elected)

2023                                       Annual Meeting MPD Top 5 Presentation​

2022                                       Registered Member (RM)

2021                                       Henry Krumb Lecturer

2020                                       Antoine M. Gaudin Award

2017                                       Distinguished Member/Fellow

2009, 2015                            President’s Citation

1999-present     American Exploration and Mining Association (AEMA) 

                              Trustee 2015-2018

1998-present      Montana Mining Association (MMA)

                              Honorary Lifetime Member since 2007

1982-present      Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME)

                              Distinguished Member/Fellow since 2017