Get to know our new Governor from AECI Mining : Christo PELTZ

Personal Details:

• Date of Birth: 26 May 1973 (51 Years of age)
• Marital Status: Married to Martiana Peltz (Clinical Psychologist) since 2001 Children: Mika (daughter 15y) & Zander (son 12y)
• Formal Education: Matriculated in 1991 & Completed BTech in Explosives Technology in 1997 Pretoria Technicon & Certificate in Management from Henley (England)
• Several courses in general safety such as SAMTRAC, Apollo RCA, first aid, firefighting etc.

Working History:

Commercial Blasting Operations

• In-Service training at Civil Blasting Company doing drilling, loading and blasting
• In-Service training at narrow reef gold mine doing blasting and face advance measurements

AECI Research and Technical Department

• Started at AECI in August of 1994 as a temp doing in service training.
• Permanently employed since March 1996 employed as a research assistant.
• Worked extensively on Initiating systems and becoming technical custodian for complete range of initiating systems. Experience in Capped fuse and Igniter Cord, Shock tube Detonator systems, Electronic Detonator Systems, Detonating cord & Boosters. During this time was promoted from Technologist to Senior Technologist and ultimately Chief Technologist.
• In 2006 I was promoted to Explosives Manager in charge of R&D safety and started working extensively with Government departments including Department of Employment & Labour, South African Police Services, Department of Mineral- and Petroleum Resources and Department of Transport. A lot of the research job aspect during this time was spent on Electronic Detonator development and as a result have strong capability in Electronic Detonator design.

Product Management

In 2009 I was promoted to Product Manager for Packaged Explosives and relocated to the AECI Mining Head Office. The Product Management portfolio grew to include the entire range of Initiating System products. During this time the engagement of Government departments became more formalised and I was appointed as the official liaison between the Chief Inspector of Explosives and AECI.

Safety & Risk Management

In the last quarter of 2017 I was promoted to my current role as Company Risk and Safety Manager for AECI Mining. My current role assigns accountability for the safety and risk associated with AECI Mining which includes National Keypoint management, MHI, Safety & Health and Legislative Risk for

Accountability for Explosives control of the Modderfontein Factory. I serve on the National Institute of Explosives Technology as the Vice Chair in the SA context and as Deputy Governor at SAFEX. I have investigated many explosives incidents over the years and have a good knowledge of incident investigation and Root Cause Analysis.

In a nutshell, I’ll describe myself as an experienced explosives practitioner with practical experience in plant, product & packaging design. I also have experience in manufacture, storage, distribution, transport, use and destruction of energetic materials, remediation of explosives contaminated sites with specific speciality in Electronic Detonator systems.

In closing, I also have a personal passion for safety as it resonates with my personal core values.