PROFILE
Simon Tose, new chair of the Institute of Quarrying Southern Africa.
AEL
SIMON TOSE – perfecting the art of blasting
Simon Tose from AEL will join the Institute of Quarrying Southern Africa as chairperson in April 2017. Nicola Theunissen had an informal conversation with him about the direction blasting is taking in the sector.
Can you share a little about your professional background? I studied mining engineering in the UK through a National Coal Board scholarship and started my career at Genmin group of mines in South Africa. I received my blasting ticket at
Kinross mine. My very first exposure to specialised blasting was at Barberton mine pumping bio-oxidised material into vertical holes. It was a major challenge. From Genmin I joined AEL’ s Modderfontein operations and I have been here for 22 years.
How big a market is the quarry sector for AEL? It is small in relation to the mining sector, but quite dominant because of the many technical challenges from a blasting perspective. Quarries are challenging because people are normally
QUARRY SA | JANUARY 2017 _ 31