Henry Simonsen graduated from the Camborne School of Mines (CSM) in mining engineering and undertook post graduate research in the flotation of cassiterite. He then worked as a technical assistant for the Warren Springs Laboratory on the Parc Mine project in the U.K., as miner in iron ore and coal mining in Germany and as a research metallurgist for Union Corporation developing a process for the extraction of alumina from coal ash.

Simonsen spent four years with Government Metallurgical Laboratory, particularly in gold and pegmatite processing before returning to the U.K. to complete an M.Sc. at Imperial College on Mineral Process Design. After that he spent a year as a lecturer at the CSM before joining Rio Tinto in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) as the Head of Research.  He then moved to South Africa where he was briefly employed in mineral economic studies at NIM before being appointed as a Deputy Director at the Atomic Energy Board as well as an appointment to the uranium processing study group of the I.A.E.A.

Simonsen was appointed as the Head of the Professional Services Group at Mintek before moving onto Trust Bank to form a mining investment department. Along with seven fellow employees he left Trust Bank to form the Mercantile Securities Corporation which later incorporated as Mercantile Bank. Simonsen moved to Eskom as Corporate Financial Consultant involved, principally, in tariff design to encourage industrial expansion. His next move was to form Te-Con C.C. (consultants) to provide techno-economic services to industry as well as the formation of Jetleach (Pty.) Ltd, a company specializing in mineral hydrometallurgy and Black Knight (Pty.) Ltd., a company involved in the development of crushing technology.

In 2016 Henry joined the CHMT department in the Engineering Faculty of the University of the Witwatersrand as a Visiting (later Honorary) Professor where, in addition to lecturing duties, Henry is involved in research in comminution, hydrometallurgy and flotation.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5302-7280

Five latest publications

Use of cavitation to enhance the leaching kinetics of refractory gold ores.
Jean Jacques Kalambo Mbay Henry Simonsen Sehliselo Ndlovu
Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy July 2020
22 reads

Improving the gold leaching process of refractory ores using the Jetleach reactor
Jean Jacques Kalambo Mbay Henry Simonsen Sehliselo Ndlovu
Minerals Engineering 134(4):300-30
Cited by 13

Exploratory development of a rotary offset crusher
T. Nghipulile; M. Bwalya; M. Moys; H. Simonsen
J. S. Afr. Inst. Min. Metall. vol.121 n.1 Johannesburg Jan. 2021
Cited by 3

Determination of regional emission factors for the power sector in Southern Africa
Peter P. Zhou, et al.
Jnl. Of Energy in Southern Africa
2009/11/01
Cited by 8