The engineers building OreNova.
Brad Skajko
Director
Brad founded OreNova in 2025 to bring AI into the part of a project where engineering hours are spent fastest: study phase mechanical design.
He is a mechanical engineer by training, with a Master of Professional Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science and Finance from UWA, and aeronautical study at the University of Calgary.
His design experience spans gold, phosphate, uranium and rare earth plants, from beneficiation through hydrometallurgy to pilot plants. He takes a client flowsheet and carries it through to full equipment definition, 2D and 3D engineering models and a costed estimate, concentrating on mechanical equipment selection, piping and materials of construction.
He specialises in simulation modelling, including heat transfer and process simulation, and has built 3D heat transfer models for spacecraft. That combination shapes how OreNova works: the automation is built by someone who has produced the deliverables it replaces. Alongside the practice, Brad advises small and medium businesses on putting AI to work against measurable results.
Principal consultants, 150+ years of combined experience.
Every deliverable is validated by a principal mineral processing consultant before release, pairing the speed of AI with decades of plant judgement.
Principal engineers are engaged project by project, matched to the commodity and the process route in front of us, so the engineer reviewing a rare earth flowsheet is a rare earth specialist and the engineer reviewing a gold circuit has run gold plants. You get the right expertise on your project rather than whoever happens to be on the bench.
Because the drafting and calculation work is automated, the hours that would normally go into producing documents go into reviewing them instead. A study phase package that would ordinarily be checked once passes under several principal engineers, so more experienced eyes reach every datasheet, every equipment selection and every line of the estimate than a conventional team can afford to put on it.
Board of Advisors.
Market Equity is a strategic advisor and stakeholder in OreNova Engineering, providing board level guidance on business strategy, capital structuring, and commercial growth.
Founded in Perth in 1992, it became one of the largest private consultancies in Australia and New Zealand before its 2005 acquisition by London listed Aegis PLC. Founder Brent Stewart went on to lead around 6,000 staff across more than 100 offices.
Today it works exclusively with a small number of high growth businesses.