Dr. Peter Tarassoff began his career with the Quebec Iron and Titanium Corporation and in 1964 he joined the Noranda Research Centre where his research interests focused on the extraction of copper and other non-ferrous metals. He was appointed Director of Research and Development in 1982, and Vice President and Chief Scientist in Noranda's corporate office in 1988. He is the author or coauthor of many publications and holds several patents. Peter Tarassoff retired as Vice President and Chief Scientist of Noranda Inc. after 29 years in research and development, and worked as a consultant after retirement.
Dr. Tarassoff is a past chairman of the Canadian Research Management Association CRMA), a past president of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS) of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (AIME), and a past president of the Canadian Instiute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM). He has also served as chairman of the Minister's National Advisory Council to the Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (CANMET).
He was a co-recipent of the TMS Extractive Metallurgy Technology Award (1973), TMS Extractive Metallurgy Lecturer (1984) and elected a Fellow of TMS (1991). He is a recipient of the James Douglas Gold Medal of AIME (1995).
In his retirement, Peter Tarassoff has pursued an avocation in mineralogy in which field he is an author or co-author of a number of publications, and volunteers at McGill University's Redpath Museum as Honorary Curator of Mineralogy.