Quarry Southern Africa January 2017 | Page 33

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