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Senior Critical Minerals Exploration Geologist

Opportunity track: SEA / GLOBAL
Engagement: Contingent individual consultant; engagement may be direct or through an eligible U.S. consulting firm
Location: United States-based; remote work with possible international travel
Anticipated consulting fee: $150–$275 per hour, or a negotiated fixed price by work package

The opportunity

Axyde is building a senior expert bench for anticipated U.S. government-funded project-scoping assignments involving critical-minerals exploration and mine development in Latin America, Europe and Eurasia, Africa and the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific.

The selected specialist will help Axyde determine whether early-stage exploration and resource-development opportunities are technically credible, appropriately scoped, commercially relevant, and ready for feasibility work, technical assistance, or pilot support. Assignments may begin with limited data and require rapid, independent, and defensible conclusions.

Potential responsibilities

• Review geological models, historical exploration results, sampling programs, drilling data, resource estimates, and technical reports.
• Assess exploration maturity, data quality, resource potential, uncertainty, and principal technical risks.
• Evaluate proposed exploration methods and technologies, including geophysics, remote sensing, geochemistry, drilling, data analytics, and AI-enabled targeting, where relevant.
• Identify material information gaps and recommend proportionate next-stage work.
• Develop or review technical tasks, required qualifications, deliverables, schedules, and budgets for feasibility studies, technical-assistance assignments, and pilot activities.
• Assess infrastructure, logistics, permitting, environmental, social, and community dependencies affecting exploration and mine development.
• Contribute to concept consultations, initial assessments, project reports, presentations, and sector deep dives.
• Participate in sponsor interviews, technical-diligence calls, and occasional site visits.
• Clearly distinguish source data, professional judgments, assumptions, limitations, and matters requiring validation by a Qualified Person, Competent Person, or other appropriately licensed professional.

Required qualifications

• Degree in geology, economic geology, geoscience, or a closely related field.
• At least 10 years of directly relevant professional experience.
• Demonstrated experience evaluating critical-minerals exploration programs involving hard-rock, brine, clay, tailings, or comparable resources.
• Experience translating technical findings into practical scopes of work, schedules, budgets, decision criteria, and risk-mitigation measures.
• Ability to distinguish measured evidence from assumptions and communicate uncertainty clearly.
• Strong analytical writing skills and the ability to work under compressed schedules.
• Contract-required status: The individual performing the work must be either a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident of the United States (green-card holder). Other forms of U.S. work authorization do not satisfy the stated requirements of the anticipated contracts. A consultant engaged directly as an individual must maintain a principal place of business in the United States. A consultant proposed through a firm must be employed or engaged through an entity that independently satisfies the solicitation’s U.S.-firm requirements.

Preferred qualifications

• Professional Geologist registration and/or experience serving as a Qualified Person or Competent Person under an applicable reporting framework.
• Experience with S-K 1300, NI 43-101, JORC, or comparable resource-reporting frameworks.
• Emerging-market experience and familiarity with international project sponsors, host-country governments, U.S. government agencies, or development-finance institutions.
• Experience preparing or independently reviewing scopes and budgets for feasibility studies, technical assistance, or pilot projects.
• Experience evaluating associated infrastructure, mineral-processing interfaces, project economics, or commercialization pathways.

Engagement conditions

This is a contingent consulting opportunity, not an offer of full-time employment. No award, assignment, minimum number of hours, or minimum compensation is guaranteed. Engagement depends on contract award, assignment fit, eligibility, conflicts, availability, successful completion of Axyde’s due diligence, and agreement on scope and pricing. The stated fee range is an anticipated range; the final rate or fixed price will depend on experience, role, work-package requirements, and applicable cost-reasonableness requirements.

Some assignments may require rapid turnaround, irregular coordination across time zones, or international travel. Travel requirements, approvals, insurance, and reimbursable costs will be addressed in the applicable consulting agreement or work order.

Participation in a U.S. Trade and Development Agency project-scoping assignment may make the participating consultant or subcontracting entity ineligible to compete—whether as a prime contractor, subcontractor, or otherwise—for certain USTDA-funded follow-on activities resulting from that assignment, unless USTDA grants a waiver. Axyde will disclose the applicable restriction and obtain written acceptance before issuing a work order.

Selected specialists may be asked for written permission to include their name, qualifications, and resume in a proposal. Applying does not by itself authorize Axyde to represent that an applicant has committed to a proposal or assignment.

Work performed under an awarded contract will be subject to applicable confidentiality, data-rights, information-security, and conflict-of-interest requirements. Any background intellectual property should be identified before an assignment begins.

How to apply

Apply through Axyde’s online application form using the heading SEA/GLOBAL – Critical Minerals Exploration Geologist. Please provide:

• A resume or CV of no more than three pages.
• Two or three concise, directly relevant project examples identifying your role, the project stage, the principal technical questions, and the resulting work product or decision.
• Your U.S. location, travel availability, availability during the anticipated performance period, and proposed hourly rate or fixed-price basis.
• A self-attestation that you are either a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident and, if you would contract directly as an individual, that your principal place of business is in the United States. Applicants proposing engagement through a firm should identify the firm and confirm that it meets the applicable solicitation definition of a U.S. firm.
• Any known organizational conflicts, current client restrictions, or planned pursuits of potentially related USTDA-funded work.

Do not submit a passport, green card, Social Security number, or other identity document with the initial application. Do not include classified, export-controlled, proprietary, or client-confidential information in project examples; anonymized descriptions are acceptable. Axyde will request only the documentation needed at the appropriate stage of selection and engagement.

Axyde considers qualified applicants without regard to any status protected by applicable law. The citizenship or permanent-residence limitation above applies solely to work covered by the stated U.S. government contract requirements.