all aboard - 1q 2014

ALL AboardFirst Quarter 2014 I Ethics Line: 0800 205 280

Wealth UnearthedPrinted on 100% eco-friendly paper

AEL’s knowledge-transfer with university students

CANSA Shavathon 2014

AEL’s sales force ranks high in the AECI Group

AEL Environmental Awareness Campaign

2 All Aboard © AEL Mining Services I First Quarter 2014

Contact Details: Eubulus Pillay - All Aboard Editor I Tel: +27 11 606 0313 I Fax: +27 11 605 0000 I [email protected] I www.aelminingservices.com

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3 AEL’S SALES FORCE RANKS HIGH IN

THE AECI GROUP

4 AEL COMMENDS EMPLOYEES AT

ITS MANUFACTURING EXCELLENCE

AWARDS

5 MOVERS AND SHAKERS – AN

INTERVIEW WITH FRANCOIS VAN

NIEKERK

6 AEL’S KNOWLEDGE-TRANSFER WITH

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

8 DELIVERING QUALITY – THE AEL WAY

9 MAN ON THE RUN

9 A GLANCE AT THE AEL WORLD

9 ENHANCING TECHNOLOGY AND

SKILLS AT KEMPTON PARK PRIMARY

10 AEL KEEPING IT GREEN

11 AEL ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

CAMPAIGN

12 AEL AND SHANDUKA JOINING

FORCES TO COMBAT POVERTY

13 CANSA SHAVATHON 2014

13 A TIME FOR LOVE, FLOWERS AND

CHOCOLATES

14 AEL INDONESIA HONOURS LONG

SERVICE AWARD RECIPIENTS

14 FUN, GAMES AND CRICKET!

15 BABIES ON BOARD

15 WAYNE’S WORD

15 LOVE IS IN THE AIR…

Note from the Editor

Welcome to our first issue of All Aboard for 2014. It has indeed been an eventful first quarter

filled with great achievements in the field, excitement at the office and tremendous joy at play.

We take pleasure in sharing the heart-warming stories of our colleagues who have demonstrated confidence in the business arena attaining accolades for exemplary performance at the AECI annual sales day awards; courage and care to take on the challenge of enhancing the lives of the communities within which we operate through our CSI initiatives for Arbor Week and CANSA Shavathon month. It is this unrelenting spirit of the AEL community that inspires and motivates us to make a difference through always leading by example. Other highlights in this issue include our AEL Environmental Awareness Campaign inviting employees to draw on their team spirit and enter the competition to show how you are making a positive change to preserve the environment. In our AEL Movers and Shakers section, we cross paths with one of AEL’s ultimate go-getters, Francois van Niekerk who will be taking on the role of Group Procurement Manager later this year. The AEL Energy section uncovers our colleagues’ thrilling extra-mural activities, hidden talents and inspirational triumphs when at play.

And finally, always delighting us is the Babies on Board section where we get acquainted with the latest generation of AEL family members.

To keep putting smiles on the faces of our readership, we look forward to your submissions. Please email: [email protected]

Enjoy the read!

3All Aboard © AEL Mining Services I First Quarter 2014

AECI Group CEO, Mark Dytor with Nic Dreyer, AEL Regional Manager: Open Pit and Massive

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AEL’s sales teams were honoured for displaying

exemplary performance in the field while building

customer relationships.

On 13 March 2014, the AECI Group hosted its annual Sales and

Marketing Day at The Forum in Bryanston. At the event Group

CEO, Mark Dytor, presented accolades to several employees

from the various companies within the group, in recognition for

their contribution to the group.

We are proud to announce that among the many recipients

were AEL’s Nic Dreyer, Regional Manager: Open Pit and Massive

and Meagan van den Berg, Regional Manager: Platinum and

Chrome; who were commended for their sterling efforts and

achievements in 2013.

As a result of Nic Dreyer’s diligence and fortitude, one of his

key customers expressed great satisfaction with AEL’s ability

to continuously execute quality blasting. Nic’s proven capability

will stand him in good stead to become a deserving candidate

for the coveted “salesmen of the year” in the future.

Meagan van den Berg, was awarded an accolade for displaying

consistency in securing long term initiating systems contracts

with major mining houses in the region. This achievement bears

testament to her resilience in the market.

We commend Nic and Meagan for offering unwavering support

and exceptional service to customers. A force to be reckoned

with!

AEL’s sales force ranks high in the AECI Group

AECI Group CEO, Mark Dytor with Meagan van den Berg, AEL Regional Manager: Platinum and Chrome


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AEL’s Manufacturing Excellence Awards was hosted on Friday, 7 March 2014.

The annual event celebrates the achievements of AEL’s team of talented and competent employees who have displayed superior capability in their daily duties in various portfolios.

AEL’s Executive Committee Members, David Harding and Sepadi Mohlabeng, commended individuals and teams for adding value to the organisation through their commitment and dedication.

Our teams of accomplished industry specialists constantly ensure that we operate at world class standards by upskilling employees, adhering to stringent safety regulations and demonstrating precision in quality. This ultimately adds value to our customers’ operations.

The event was rounded off with entertainment by Swing City made up of renowned singing sensations Lloyd Cele, Graeme Watkins and Nathan Ro.

AEL commends employees at its Manufacturing Excellence Awards

HR Business Partner, Bongi Vovo presented the Operator 2013 award to Josias Boroto

Group Quality Manager, Linnea Cloete, presented the Catch of the Year award to Vela Mazula

Award recipients flanked by Executive Director Operations, Sepadi Mohlabeng (eft) and Executive Operations Manager Initiating Systems, David Harding (right)

SHEQ Manager Africa Business, Vincent Maoeng presented the SHE Rep of the year award to Albert Mashiane

Award recipients joined the entertainers on the dance floor

The award categories and individual awards included:

Training and Development Awards• Engineering Learner 2013 • Multi-skilling Learner 2013

Leadership and Management Excellence Awards• First Line Manager • Second Line Manager • Leader of the year

Safety Awards • Leadership safety award • SHE Rep

Quality Awards • Quality Champion • Best plant quality• Catch of the year

Performance Awards • Excellence in service • Artisan of the year• Operator of the year


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Movers and shakers

From playing chess to strumming his guitar, multi-skilled Francois is certainly not the clichéd “number -crunching accountant”.

At just 34, Francois van Niekerk has completed a 10-year tenure at AEL with an impressive track record. After graduating, he joined the AECI group at Heartlands as an Assistant Accountant. From there he progressed to AEL as the Commercial Accountant for Narrow Reef. He was subsequently seconded as Financial Manager for AEL in West Africa, based in Ghana for 16 months and later returned to South Africa.

Francois then took on various market-related finance roles such as Financial Manager for the Southern African business. After this, he was given an opportunity to become the Executive Finance service which, essentially, involved various finance-related projects within the group. About a year ago, Francois was seconded to his current role in the Business Optimisation Project to become the team leader in the Sourcing Stream, responsible for managing this stream on AEL’s behalf while ensuring final delivery to the satisfaction of all stakeholders concerned.

All Aboard chatted to this versatile professional who will be taking over the role of Group Procurement Manager later this year from Sylvester Duma who will be retiring after a long successful career at AEL.

Are you excited about the new portfolio that will be moving into later this year? I’m excited and more than a little nervous, since, as a Chartered Accountant, procurement is not the type of position that we are specifically trained for. Crunching numbers should not be the only thing to be good at in order to achieve success in this new position. I do believe that this will be an extremely tough journey ahead with an exceptionally steep learning curve but I am geared for the challenge.

What is your modus operandi? Is it aligned to the AEL Way (confidence, care, courage)? When I get right down to the bottom of it, I always wondered why I am, in general, so comfortable at AEL. The answer lies in the fact that AEL’s values are in a big way aligned to what I firmly believe we should all be striving towards, even when we are not at work. It is important for all employees to believe in the values and leadership behaviours related to these values and to live up to them so that in turn others will be inspired to start living these values as well. Chief amongst these should be the development and growth of our subordinates, since the biggest asset of any company is its people.

What major projects are you currently engaged in? As part of the Business Optimisation project, managing the Sourcing Stream is assessing, designing and implementing various savings opportunities from a sourcing perspective

in specific spending categories (in 2013, for example, we specifically looked at opportunities in the categories of Raw Materials and Packaging, Transport and Logistics and Engineering and Local). Examples of these initiatives include running RFP’s, targeted negotiation with selected suppliers, supplier consolidation and specification assessment.

We are currently in the process of implementing the various initiatives for the categories specified above and are also going to be starting the second phase of this project. This second phase will involve the extension of initiatives to include categories not previously addressed (eg. Travel, Advertising and Marketing, IT etc.), extending selected category initiatives to the subsidiaries and engaging in a structured manner with other AECI group companies in order to assess and possibly implement initiatives in selected spending categories on a group level, with potential collaborative group savings thanks to the larger negotiation leverage due to scale.

What are we doing to stay relevant and on the cutting edge?A second remit from a project perspective specifically involves the upskilling and transformation of the AEL procurement function. This would include the implementation of relevant systems and procedures to enable the department to have up-to-date group spending analysis reporting. These changes would mean that the AEL procurement function would be at the forefront of the way companies procure globally.

Do you see yourself as a leader or a team player? Strictly speaking, nobody can be a leader without a team. It is essential to inspire people to follow by being the type of leader that deserves to be followed. I will do my utmost to be that type of leader.

What is your vision/ goal for the future within AEL?The ultimate vision I have for AEL is that the company becomes the great company it is destined to be. I don’t want us to be merely good, but excellent at everything we set our minds to. The first step in this process is to become part of Vision 2017, The Next Stretch. Believe me, it is a stretch to fulfil our strategic goals, but I am sure that I am not alone in believing that it will be merely the beginning of great things to come just by reaching our 2017 goals. I am willing to step up and play a part in achieving these goals whilst I also realise that it will take a tremendous team effort to accomplish this.

Tell us something interesting about yourself?I have South African colours for chess and I used to play the guitar as part of a band when I was much younger. Now I love spending time with my friends and family, going camping, playing squash and tennis. I often challenge myself and am currently learning to speak French.

All Aboard wishes Francois great success as he prepares to take on his future role as Group Procurement Manager.

“Strictly speaking, nobody can be a leader without a team”


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AEL’s knowledge-transfer with university students

AEL annually hosts students from the University of the Witwatersrand, University of Pretoria and University of Johannesburg at our Student

Technical Days.

The event is managed by the Group Mining Optimisation department in conjunction with the Training and Development department. Our team of experts engage with students through interactive presentations enlightening them about our organisation, products and services. The presentations are complemented by an exhibition of impressive cutting edge products and services such as our Mobile Manufacturing Units, Underground Bulk System and Shock Tube display. The day culminates in a live controlled demonstration at the near/ far range.

This highly successful event is also tailored to assist Mining Engineering students of all levels to gather information about the career prospects after graduating.

At last quarter’s event, several students described AEL as their “employer of choice” due to our rich 100 year history and the fact that we are one of the largest explosives suppliers in Africa. AEL representatives from Mining Optimisation, R&D, Products to Market and HR were in engaging in knowledge-sharing with students.

In order to facilitate and avail work experience for graduates, AEL has also been running an internship programme benefitting a range of students in diverse corporate sectors. The programme runs for a year end is open to all tertiary graduates. AEL places the graduates in a department which can assist them in gaining experience in their field of study such as Finance, Human Resources, Marketing or Engineering. To date the company has taken on in excess of 39 graduates with 10 of these being awarded permanent employment.

For more information about our internship programme, contact Eubulus Pillay on 011 606 0313 or [email protected]


that apply to almost any environment. Focusing on 2-3 Wildly Important Goals, sets the pace for success, as the authors recognise that people in an organisation tend to focus more on their day-to-day running of a profitable business and have limited time for ‘special initiatives’.

This book gives us a process for identifying leading success behaviours that we should adopt and leading indicators in achieving the goals we have set.

The concept and associated explanation of lead and lag measures, and how they impact achieving goals as a way of gaining momentum and staying focused is one I found most enlightening.

The authors advocate the use of dashboards as a measure of success and a motivator to achieve. Keeping track through a compelling scoreboard is imperative to achieving your WIGS.

Ultimately they talk about creating a cadence of accountability. The word ‘cadence’ is a musical term used to describe rhythm, where accountability is an accepted part of the processes we follow everyday and shifting blame and responsibility is frowned upon. The read gets a bit technical toward the end, but for the most part it was interesting and has the potential to improve many different environments: at work, or even in family, and individual lives. This is a highly recommended read.

Quality Read Star Rating: 4/5

We would love to hear from you. How you would apply these disciplines to entrenching Quality The AEL Way.

Send your answers to [email protected]. The best answers will be featured in the next edition of All Aboard.

Quality The AEL Way

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Delivering Quality...The AEL Way

In this issue’s book review, All Aboard engages with Linnea Cloete, our Group Quality and Capability Manager, who reviews The 4 Disciplines of

Execution by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey and Jim Huling.

Quality needs to be ingrained in our employees so that our customers can rely on us to deliver. Our key message should serve as a reminder to our employees that every job, no matter how big or small, requires meticulous care and must be executed with quality. This contributes to the overall success of our organisation.

care and attention to Quality The AEL Way. This means that quality should become second nature as we subscribe to the standards of ISO 9001:2008 to make sure we stay in business and are recognised as an organisation that will always deliver on quality. We therefore approach quality with confidence, courage and care. With this in mind, reading the 4 Disciplines of Execution becomes a great guide from taking a strategy into execution by following 4 steps meticulously.

The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) provides hands-on, practical tools to help us at AEL drive our primary goals even in the middle of the daily whirlwind of work. So often, leadership training follows a theoretical and strategic course, with little to no practical application. So it sounds all good in theory but people have no idea how to execute this in real life. We all have many great ideas of how to improve our business—but how do we actually put them to work? This book provides a response and answer to this pertinent question. The Four Disciplines of Execution are not a theory but rather a proven set of practices that have been tried and tested over numerous organisations and continue to bring abut results.

Quite simply the disciplines are:

1. Focusing on the Wildly Important Goal (WIG)2. Acting on Lead Measures3. Keeping a Compelling Scoreboard4. Creating a Cadence of Accountability

Rather than scattering many ideas into the marketplace and hoping one or two will catch on, 4DX encourages teams to focus on a specific Wildly Important Goal (WIG), then implement proven tools (leading measures, the active scoreboard, group accountability) to achieve that specific goal. Each discipline must be followed in order to reach a level where being accountable is all part of the process, where the ownership of particular goals and the way in which we achieve them, is owned by every member of our various teams.

This book offers practical tools to propel groups towards achieving their goals, rather than losing sight of their goals in the daily hustle and bustle of ‘have-to-do’ activities. To emphasise the importance of the WIG, the authors present compelling, real-world examples

THE FOUR DISCIPLINES OF EXECUTION: ACHIEVING YOUR WILDLY IMPORTANT GOALSby Sean Covey, Chris McChesney and New York Times Best Selling Author - Jim Huling

“What Six Sigma and Lean are to manufacturing, The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) are to executing your strategy. It is a practical methodology that can solve every leader’s No. 1 challenge: execution,” Ram Charan co-author of best selling Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done and the author of What the CEO wants You to Know.

How often do you hear of a major initiative at an organisation and then in the blink of an eye it dies down, leaving you to wonder what happened? Or it gets pushed further and further down the list of priorities, causing it to be put on the back burner and often forgotten about. Here at AEL we do not want to ever lose sight of our major initiative, The Next Stretch 2017. Part of achieving Vision 2017 is paying meticulous


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A glance at the AEL world

Man on the run!

Enhancing technology and skills at Kempton Park Primary

Hennie van Niekerk at

Kleinkoppie mine's

interesting fishpond

John Grobbelaar, Development Manager for Products to

Market, competed at the Gauteng North Masters Athletics

Championships, held at Pilditch Stadium in Pretoria on Saturday,

8 March 2014. He received a bronze medal in the 200m sprint (28.71

sec) and a fourth place in the 100m sprint (13.74 sec).

John will compete at the South Africa Championships in Rustenburg on

25 – 26 April 2014 where he will represent the Gauteng North region.

He hopes to receive a medal and fulfil his long-term goal of achieving

South African national colours at the championships.

John will also compete at one of the world’s largest sports

competitions, the Comrades Marathon 2014. This will be his 26th year

at the Comrades Marathon.

AEL’s IT department made a significant

contribution to Kempton Park Primary

as part of AEL’s CSI initiative to enhance

literacy at primary schools in the

surrounding communities.

To better equip learners for the future, the

team installed computers which brought

smiles to the faces of several learners.

Limpopo Sales Office celebrated

its quarterly safety day

Sifisile Ngwenya (left) pictured with

Mxolisi Nene, enjoyed a surprise

birthday party hosted by her

colleagues at The Platform

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Keeping it green!

AEL’s Distribution department

embarked on a climate change

initiative during last September’s Arbor

Week celebrations.

The initiative was spearheaded by Gift

Radebe, Distribution’s intern, under

the guidance of John Marshall, SHEQ

Manager: Business Services Group and

Steve Kgomo, Employee Development

Manager.

The project entailed planting twelve

indigenous trees at Boitumelong

Secondary school in Tembisa with

participation from the learners.

Learners were encouraged to care for

the environment by planting trees that

they could nurture that will ultimately

provide shade on blistering hot days.

They were also encouraged to educate

fellow learners about threats to the

environment and how we need to

respect the flora and fauna in order to

preserve nature for future generations.


We invite employees to participate in AEL’s Environmental Awareness Campaign 2014. The theme of the campaign is Care and Conservation of the Earth.

The Environmental Awareness Campaign is aimed at

mobilising employees across the organisation to make

a positive impact on their environment. While we live

and work in different communities, it is imperative

to remember that we face the same environmental

challenges that ultimately affect the sustainability of life

and the planet.

The objectives of the campaign are to:

• Create meaningful and sustainable ways to conserve

two of the most precious resources; water and

energy.

• Improve methods of waste disposal.

This is your opportunity to present fun ways in which

you or your department are making a positive change at

home or at work.

The campaign will run from the 1 April until 30 June

2014.

Entries will be reviewed by a panel of judges and a winner

will be announced at the SHE Conference on 19 August

2014.

Entries must be in the form of multimedia (photos or

videos) or PowerPoint presentations.

Play your part and take care of the environment!

There are awesome prizes to be won!

For more information contact [email protected]

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AEL Environmental Awareness Campaign 2014



AEL participated in the Shanduka Annual

Charity Golf Day which took place on 27th of

September 2013, at the Middelburg Country

Club. The event was a fund-raising initiative for the less

fortunate primary schools in Middelburg, Mpumalanga

Province. An overwhelming response resulted in the

collection of over half a million rand. To add to this

total, various portraits of Sports Heroes were auctioned

off at the prize giving dinner.

The Shanduka Group was founded in 2001 as a black-

owned investment holding company. It has invested in

a diverse portfolio of listed and unlisted companies,

with key holdings in the resources, food and beverage

industries. Shanduka has also invested in the financial

services, energy, telecoms, property and industrial

sectors. The group has investments in South Africa,

Mozambique, Mauritius, Ghana and Nigeria. The

company's investment philosophy rests on partnering

with companies that have a history of delivering

profitable earnings and capable management teams

that embrace transformation.

Shanduka Coal and Kangra Coal makes up their

portfolio in the coal mining sector. AEL supplies

explosives (in the region of 1,500 tons per month

on average) to Middelkraal, Wonderfontein and

Kleinfontein. We also supply Genet Mining which is a

mining contractor operating on some of the Shanduka

sites, like Onverdacht.

AEL is passionate to invest in less fortunate

communities within which it operates.

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AEL AND SHANDUKA JOINING FORCES TO COMBAT POVERTY

Thabo Makeki, Braam Swanepoel, Anton Vorster, Sean O’Brien (AEL) Sean, Anton & Braam with one of the sponsors

Riaan Hoffman, Jacques Pienaar, Hermie vd Westhuizen, Tiger van Wyk (Genet Mining)


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CANSA Shavathon 2014

A time for love, flowers and chocolates!

CANSA Shavathon is a fundraising initiative that has crept into the hearts of South Africans, with many people from all backgrounds, ages, races and creeds

getting involved and showing support for the fight against cancer.

On 28 February 2014, AEL hosted the Shavathon and subsequently raised funds to the value of R 2 140 which will enable CANSA to continue their support programmes for people affected by cancer and further develop cancer research projects.

Thank you to everyone that supported the Shavathon campaign.

To learn more about CANSA initiatives, visit www.cansa.org.za.

AEL employees celebrated Valentine’s Day on 14 February 2014 by sharing sweet treats and flowers with those closest to their hearts.

Crazy colourful coiffure for a worthy course

Employees spreading the love at The Platform



The AEL Hotshots took on the Coldshots at a much anticipated league game of Action Cricket on 31 January 2014.

Members of both teams arrived, with the support of friends and family, ready and geared up for what would be the most exciting and challenging game.

The mascot for the day, Sibusiso Khumalo’s 18-month-old daughter – Tehillah, set the tone by cheering for both teams and dancing throughout the game.

The Hotshots claimed victory when narrowly defeating the Coldshots by 8 runs. A

Last year AEL Indonesia presented Long Service awards to five employees who have served the company for 5 years.

They are Patrick Foo (Executive Director AEL Asia Pacific), Nency Ismail (Finance Director Asia Pacific), Max Patty (Supply Chain Manager Asia Pacific), Dameria Sirait (Personal Assistant to the Executive Director) and Sukayat (Driver to the Executive Director). AEL Indonesia’s Jakarta office celebrated this event by hosting a dinner in honour of the award recipients who were presented with certificates and exclusive wrist watches.

Later this year, AEL Indonesia will be handing out more Long Service awards to 65 employees. This is an indication of the dedication and loyalty displayed by employees who see AEL as an employer of choice.

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FUN, GAMES AND ACTION CRICKET!

AEL Indonesia honours Long Service award recipients

unanimous decision was therefore taken that the Coldshots would have the honour of the ‘sinking’ trophy.

Other noteworthy recognition on the night include:• Anley Chinnappa, highest contribution score• Sharika Rutthan, lowest contribution score • Subash Chetty, best spirit • Sibusiso Khumalo, first time player

For more information about the AEL Action Cricket league, email [email protected].

VS

Long service award presented to Max Patty by Patrick Foo

Long service awards presented to Sukayat & Dameria Sirait by Patrick Foo

Long service award presented to Patrick Foo

Long service award presented to Nency Ismail by Patrick Foo



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BABIES ON BOARD

Long service award presented to Patrick Foo

Long service award presented to Nency Ismail by Patrick Foo

We are proud to introduce the latest additions to the AEL family, more bundles of joy…

Welcome Sizolwethu Ifa Sikhosana, son of Khanyi Sikhosana born on 15

October 2013

Introducing Lerato, son of Matshidiso Motubase born on 19 July 2013

Say hello to Rosina Makhutja’s beautiful baby girl born on 5 January 2014

Meet Eugene Vincent Tsoriyo, son of Vincent Tsoriyo born on 25 February 2014

Love is in the air…Congratulations to Simon Tose and Sanet on their recent engagement.

We hope to hear wedding bells soon!

Wayne’s Word Executive Director, Southern African

Business, Wayne Du Chenne has defended

his position as victor on the boardroom

battleground with his arsenal of linguistic

quips targeted to motivate employees. His

latest offering is:

“Like playing golf, drive for show, putt for dough. Keep it on the greens!”

Definition: Do your utmost to aim for nothing but great success.

Keep your ears attuned for Wayne’s next

semantic serving.

This is the kind of wealth AEL Mining Services is proud to help you unearth. Advancing, constantly evolving and defining the future of explosives in the mining industry whilst preserving our heritage.

AEL Head Office Tel: +27 11 606 0000 email: [email protected] www.aelminingservices.com

Our diverse range of robust electronic delay detonators are designed to cope with the most challenging mining environments

Wealth Unearthed

Advancing, constantly evolving and defining the future of electronic initiation technology in the global mining industry

Showcasing our cutting-edge products and value-adding services in Chile from 21-24 April 2014 at

all aboard - 1q 2014

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