Alfred Leon Simon, civil engineer and chemist, studied at the Polytechnic School in Zurich, Switzerland, and passed the State examinations for a civil engineer and an analytical chemist with honours. He continued his studies at the University of Zurich which awarded him the degree Doctor of Philosophy (Phd). After teaching organic chemistry at the University of Heidelberg for a year and a half he headed a laboratory in Lille, in northern France, and then moved to Frankfort where he gained experience in the treatment of gold ores. Subsequently he gained mining experience in central France and in Freiberg, Germany.
Simon came to the Witwatersrand in the early eighteen-nineties and was employed as assayer and chemist to the Ferreira Gold Mining Company in Johannesburg. He also acted as consultant metallurgist to several large mines and erected some large cyanide plants. In 1892 he became a foundation member of the South African Association of Engineers and Architects, serving as a member of its council and honorary secretary for 1893-1894. He was still listed as a member in 1898. He and William Bettel* were involved in a legal case against the Gold Recovery Syndicate, Transvaal, in 1893.
Simon read four papers before the South African Association of Engineers and Architects, all of them during 1893 and all published in Volume 1 of its Proceedings. "The Molloy process for gold extraction" (pp. 22-25) was read in January 1893, when he was employed at the Molloy Gold Extraction Works and was illustrated by various electrical and chemical experiments. In "Notes on the cyanide process" (May, pp. 35-36) he reported on his experiments to ascertain how gold was lost in the cyanide extraction process. The amount of gold absorbed by the different materials used in vats, filtering cloths, etc. proved to be small, while most of the loss was as yet unaccounted for. "Correction of water for boilers in our district" (July, pp. 44-51) dealt with the composition of the feed water of boilers and its adjustment to prevent stoppages. His final note, "Thawing magazines for dynamite", was read in August (p. 55).
Simon's chemical papers may seem out of place in the proceedings of an engineering society. However, in 1893 it was the only scientific society on the Witwatersrand. The Chemical and Metallurgical Society of South Africa was founded only in 1894 - and Simon did not become a member.
After three years on the Witwatersrand Simon returned to France and from there went to the Western Australian goldfields in December 1894. He reported favourably on these goldfields and was subsequently entrusted with acquiring mining properties for the New Australian Company. By 1896 he was president of the Chamber of Mines in Coolgardie.
