Richard Beck joined Gold fields of South Africa in December 1969 and worked at various group operations. He was appointed Metallurgical Manager at East Driefontein Gold Mine in January 1973 before being promoted to Head Office as Group Metallurgist to assist with base metal operations. In December 1978 he was seconded to the Black Mountain Mineral Development Company to take on-site responsibility for staff training, plant commissioning and start-up.

Richard returned to Head Office in July 1980 on promotion to Consulting Metallurgist with responsibility for Black Mountain and new projects. In January 1984 he was appointed General manager of the Zinc Corporation of South Africa Limited. In January 1986 he again returned to Head Office as Chief Consulting Metallurgist responsible for all metallurgical and chemical engineering within the Gold Fields Group. During the time in this position, the Leeudorn gold plant, the Northam Platinum concentrator, smelter and base metal refinery and the Tarkwa heap leach operation were established.

After the break up of Gold Fields of South Africa in 1998, Richard formed his own consulting company, Metabeck cc. The major part of current work is as a consultant and research coordinator for AMIRA international.