Investing in the improvement of blasting engineering practices

The 2017 Programme in Blasting Engineering delegation facilitated through Enterprises University of Pretoria.

Working in close collaboration with Sasol, course leader Wolter de Graaf presented the programme which he describes as both “an art and a science”. He added that the programme is beneficial to all employees across the mining and construction industries.

“We work with real case studies to formulate course content which gives our delegates a thorough background to blasting and the impact that blasting has on the mine’s downstream processes and the total value chain.”

Furthermore, the course aims to leave delegates with the knowledge to apply the scientific knowledge of blasting to be able to predict the behaviour of explosives performance and the blast outcomes, including the risks involved.

Gugu Zimu, an explosives engineer working for Sasol, found the programme to be very beneficial, actively applying the course content she had been learning throughout the course. “I believe there are still more areas where I will be able to apply my knowledge gained,” she says.

Hans Haggard, also a delegate attending from Sasol, expressed his gratitude “to the blasting engineering team at the University of Pretoria and (especially to) Wolter de Graaf for the way he conducted the programme. With all the information given to us and the research we have done to complete the assignments, I acquired a lot of new knowledge and broadened my view of the mining industry’s blasting applications.”

Enterprises University of Pretoria has created many such courses to upskill professionals within all fields of industry and continues in its efforts to shift knowledge to insight.