biography

Siegfried Eckleben was born in Weimar, Germany, on Labour Day, May 1st, 1944. It started with labour and he has been labouring ever since. His family fled the Russian Zone of post war Germany in 1949 and emigrated back to what what was then South West Africa, where his father had been born during German colonial times. He grew up and attended school in what is now Namibia and then studied electrical engineering at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

His work as an engineer took him to several countries in Southern Africa, North and South America, Australia and Europe. He has now established a domicile on one of the Azores Islands in the North Atlantic – and another residence south of the equator in Namibia.

The enigma of the universe and concepts such as eternal and infinity both awed and frightened him since childhood and eventually drove him to write the first part of his first book, about the probable origin and evolution of the universe up to planet Earth. The peculiarities of the humans that he was confronted with in various countries convinced him of the overriding importance of genetics and motivated him to write the second part of the book, about the evolution of life on planet Earth up to the present. The ongoing obvious and crass overpopulation of the planet by humans and their domesticated animals has occupied him for some years.

Siegfried speaks five languages and has written newspaper articles in Afrikaans, English, German and Portuguese.

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PROFESSIONAL CURRICULUM VITAE

Name:	Siegfried Eckleben
Born:	01.05.1944 in Weimar / Germany
Nationality:	German
Languages:	Fluent in afrikaans, english, german,portuguese and spanish (speak, read and write)
School:	Matriculated December 1962 at Swakopmund High School, Swakopmund, South-West-Africa.
University:	B.Sc. (Electrical Engineering) degree in December 1966 at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

1/1967	Two years post-graduate pupilage with Tsumeb Corporation Ltd. a base metal mining and smelting company in South-West-Africa, spending approx. 3 months in each maintenance department of the company.
1/1969	Appointed "Section Engineer (Smelter Services)", responsible for maintenance of electrical reticulation at 2.4 kV, 500 V and 380 V, producer gas, compressed air, fresh and reclaimed water, diesel and sewage systems, as well as all boilermaking and welding for a Smelter producing 70.000 tons of refined lead and 35.000 tons of blister copper per year.
3/1970	Obtained Government Certificate of Competency for Mines (Electrical) by correspondence.
4/1970	Promoted to the post of "Electrical Engineer" involving line responsibility for two section engineers (Instrumentation and Utilities Sections) and in a staff function the co-ordination of all design, maintenance and operation of Electrical Equipment on the company's three mines, concentrator, and smelter.
Most notewothy project	Interconnection of two local powerplants (totalling 30MW) with a recently established central supply authority, including change of distribution voltage from 2.4 to 11 KV.
5/1971	Registered as Professional Engineer.

12/1974	Joined Ferteco Mineração S.A. as "Planning & Control Engineer", responsible for erection scheduling, controlling of procurement and investment for an iron ore concentrator and pelletizing plant. (Total investment US$120 million).
6/1976	Promoted to "Electrical Superintendent", responsible through four engineers for the supervision of electrical and instrumentation erection, commissioning; and subsequently maintenance of the entire plant, comprising open-cast mine, crushing and screening, concentrator, pelletizer, storage and blending yards.

1/1978	Joined Krupp Industrietechnik as "Project Engineer" responsible for supervision of electrical / instrumentation erection and commissioning of two iron ore concentrator plants for Altos Hornos Zapla, Jujuy, Argentina.
4/1978	Diploma recognized by Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil.
3/1979	Transferred to subsidiary Krupp Industrias Mecanicas Ltda., Belo Horizonte/ Brazil for the electrical part of the coal and coke storage and blending installation for the Açominas steelworks, comprising 2 waggon-tippers, 3 bucketwheel stacker-reclaimers, crushing and screening plant, blending system and approx. 8 km of belt conveyors.
4/1980	Appointed "Site Manager", responsible for supervision of mechanical and electrical erection of the above package, a total of 6.000 tons of equipment with an order value of approx. DM 80 million.
6/1981	Assumed project management in addition to site management for the above project, i.e. responsible for all technical and contractual activities thereof.
3/1983	Supervision of erection and commissioning of a semi-mobile crushing plant for Cape Portland Cement Co., Piketberg/South Africa.
8/1983	Temporary transfer to subsidiary Krupp Australia Ltd., Melbourne, Australia for project management and award of contracts in the mining and materials handling fields.
2/1984	Participation in contracts administration for Misurata Steelworks, Libya.
12/1984	"Technical Coordinator" for electrical / instrumentation part of modernization of Hadisolb rolling mills, Heluan/ Egypt. Contract value approx. 180 million DM, electrical / instrumentation package 25 million DM.

12/1984	Joined PHB Weserhuette AG as "Head of Electrical Department", responsible for design, procurement, contract adjudication and administration through to commisssioning of electrical and instrumentation systems for materials handling projects. (This company went into liquidation in December, 1987).
Most noteworthy project	Semi-mobile crushing plant and overland belt conveyors with 10 000 tph copper ore capacity for Kennecott Copper Co. near Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

3/1988	Joined AEG Aktiengesellschaft as "Sales Manager, Materials Handling Equipment" in the Industrial Systems Division, responsible for project identification, follow-up, preparation of offers, negotiations, procurement and after-order project management for electrical and electronic systems in the material handling and open cast mining industries.
1/1989	Engaged to build up sales force for the newly-created "Environmental Technology Group" in a similar function as before in the "Materials Handling Group ".
10/1989 (3 weeks)	USW-seminar "Economics for Engineers and Scientists" at Schloß Gracht near Cologne.
1/1990	Nominated "Technical and Commercial Director" for the two AEG subsidiaries in Brazil, AEG Sistemas Industriais and AEG Serviços Tecnicos; companies active in energy and industrial systems, with an annual turnover of 20-40 Mio DM and approx. 250 employees; responsible for: - sales of components, systems and turnkey installations: - engineering and contracts management; - production of electrotechnical and electronic components . - technical services, e.g. erection, service and maintenance.
1/1991	Nominated sole "Managing Director" of the a.m. companies in Brasil, accumulating the responsibilities for buying, personnel administration and finance, i.e. total responsibility for the business of these enterprises.
Most noteworthy project	Sale of upgrade control system for iron ore processing plant of Companhia Vale do Rio Doce comprising 7 PLCs and 4 Process Computers against intense competition. Value of order US$ 2.5M.

1/1994

Established own consulting business.
Main activity: Sales representative for General Electric Canada for german-speaking Europe, i.e. Austria, Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland; with the aim of building up and developing sales of
- AC & DC Motors and generators
- power rectifiers
- Mine Hoist, Grinding Mill, Compressor, Pump and Fan,
Motor & Drive Systems

Other major clients: Krupp Fördertechnik
MAN Fördertechnik

Most noteworthy project

3 Orders for large synchronous motors + starting gear won within 15 months against intense european competition. Total volume US$ 4.1 mio

2/1998

Managing Director, MAN Servicios Tecnicos, Chile: Founding and establishment of a subsidiary company in Chile to provide after sales service for the plants supplied by MAN TAKRAF Fördertechnik to the Chilean market.

2/1999

Managing Director, MAN TAKRAF South Africa (Pty) Ltd: Founding and establishment of a subsidiary company in South Africa for sales, local fabrication, supply and erection of materials handling plant and equipment to the Southern African Market.

3/2002

Retired voluntarily at age 57.

(Should have done so at 50!)

School	"Matriculation Examination", Swakopmund High School, Swakopmund / Namibia (1962)
University	"B.Sc.Electrical Engineering)", University of Cape Town, South Africa (1966)
Further training / courses	1970 : S.A. "Government Certificate of Competency for Mines (Electrical)" 1979 : "Planning and commissioning SIMATIC S3" 1983 : "Planning SIMATIC S5-130" 1984 : "Commissioning Simoreg K/M" 1987 : "Simulation of PID-control on PC's" 1989 : "Dolog AKF for Modicon A350/A500" 1989 : "Economics for engineers and scientists (USW).
Professional experience (summary)	6 years maintenance and operation of eletrical plant in underground and opencast mines, ore concentrators, pelletising plants, smelters. 4 years preparation of offers and sales for the electrical part of industrial installations. 7 years erection supervision, commissioning and site management. 5 years project management. 3 years management of an overseas subsidiary of a leading international electrical group.
Data Processing experience	application of common PC-software
Languages	afrikaans (speak-read-write) german (speak-read-write) english (speak-read-write) portuguese (speak-read-write) spanish (speak-read-write)
International experience	Assignments in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Moçambique, South Africa, USA.
Specific knowledge/experience	International and North American standards. Mining and materials handling systems, crushing, grinding and screening plant, environmental technology. Erection supervision, commissioning, project management of industrial systems. Large motors and drives. Business administration under high inflation conditions.

4/1972:	Joined E.L. Bateman Ltd. as "Electrical Project Engineer", a position involving estimating, design and procurement for industrial and mining projects.
Most noteworthy project	Tender for Sishen iron ore crushing, screening and handling plant. Value of electrical package US$ 19M.

12/1973	Joined Dow Chemical GmbH as free-lance "Construction Supervisor", responsible for supervision of electrical and instrumentation contracts, mainly on extensions to existing plant.
Most noteworthy project	Biological effluent treatment plant.

Brief biography

PROFESSIONAL CURRICULUM VITAE