MAJOR PROJECTS: Significant project experience includes:

North Mara Gold Mine (ABG) – Tanzania

Geotechnical logging for pit and underground development design. Training of personnel. QAQC on logging and development of a BH log in Acquire© database to integrate with their Surpac© and Vulcan© mine planning software. Slope stability assessment project for Ground Control Domain identification. TSF inspection and Plant site and Crusher foundation investigations. Introduced Leeb Hardness Tester and Schmidt hammer for strength of materials testing as well as an Ultrasonic Tester for determining elastic modulus and p-wave velocities of rock samples.

Klipfontein Waste Disposal Site

Consolidation and settlement cracks in a disused and rehabilitated coal waste disposal fill. Use DMT and DPSH to determine liquefaction potential and constrained modulus for settlement evaluation.

DRA Mining – Rooderand Platinum

Plant site and TSF investigation – detailed core logging and test pitting, sampling and laboratory testing together with refraction seismic studies for excavatability and depth to good quality rock.

Kapulo Copper Project – DRC

Geotechnical logging for pit design. Training of personnel. Site Investigation for new plant and tailings dam.

Decant dam failure – DRC

Investigation into causes of decant dam failures in DRC for George, Orr & Associates.

Eskom Kusile Power Station

Investigation of compaction and settlement of fill using DPSH probing, percussion drilling and Marchetti dilatometer (DMT) to evaluate density, K0 and constrained modulus in situ.

Lumwana Copper Mine

Uranium plant – detailed site investigation using test pits and diamond drilling for design of heavily loaded processing plant foundations

Boynton Platinum

Detailed core logging for pit design, detailed site investigation using test pits, diamond drilling and continuous seismic profiling for design of processing plant foundations.

Lily Mine

Site investigation for processing plant and slimes dam.

Epoch Resources Tailings Dam

Site investigation of large tailings storage facility and decant dam for Elands Platinum mine near Brits, South Africa.

Codes of Practice

Ferro-quarry and Graspan Colliery. Codes of Practice for combating rockfall and slope instability related accidents in surface mines and excavations.

Maguga dam

Geotechnical investigation for foundations & quarry site for a high, concrete arch dam on the Komati River in Swaziland. Investigations included diamond drilling, seismic refraction surveys and rock permeability tests.

Komati River Weirs

Three concrete weirs up to 12m high in the Komati river, designed to regulate flows for the purposes of irrigation water supply for a sugar farming project. Investigations included seismic refraction & magnetometer geophysics, diamond drilling and test pit excavations to evaluate foundation conditions.

Mondi Sawmill Foundation stability investigation & rehabilitation

Large frame saw foundation started vibrating due to instability of foundation soils. Innovative solution required to improve soils without disturbing surrounding operations – investigated soils and tested a new, thin resin grout that hardened and stabilized the soil.

Mazibekela dam

Off-channel storage dam, comprising earth embankment dam – difficult founding conditions and fractured weathered rock, which required grouting to form cut-off curtain beneath the wall.

Riverside Mall & Industrial Park

Large shopping mall located over undulating granite surface, with difficult founding conditions. High water-table conditions on the industrial site required special recommendations for development.

Mount Pleasant Flood Attenuation dam

Site investigation for a composite dam, comprising a `rollcrete’ central spillway and earthfill embankments.

Dam Safety Investigation

Site investigation to evaluate stability and safety of Saulspoort concrete dam in Bethlehem.

Newcastle Quarry Site Investigation

Assessment of an existing quarry to define as a basis for legal argument on what constitutes a `good’ quarry.

Omdel Dams and Aquifer Recharge Scheme

40m high emabankment dam project requiring detailed geotechnical investigations to locate a dam to recharge the underground water source for the coastal town of Henties Bay in Namibia. The dam is founded on a deep alluvial deposit comprising interlayered silt, sand and gravel. A palaeo-channel was detected and investigated using Satellite imagery, EM electromagnetic surveys and percussion drilling to determine potential leakage.

River Channel Diversion/Mine Pollution Control

This investigation determined the pollution potential of an unlined river diversion channel adjacent to a coal mine. A full environmental assessment was carried out. Oil RefineryFoundation/Environmental Impact Investigation

This investigation was undertaken in Usakos, Namibia where the groundwater is crucial to the town’s existence and the impact of the refinery had to be carefully evaluated. This was achieved with geophysical work (seismics/EM) as well as test pits and laboratory testing.

Canal/Pipeline & Purification Works – Oshakati, Namibia

Very high water table and rapidly changing ground conditions along the canal route from hard calcretes, dry sands to soft wet, expansive clays presented difficult founding and construction conditions. Diamond drilling, CPT probing and laboratory tests were employed the ground conditions at the purification works where deep basements and variable foundations loads were anticipated.

Military Underground Building

Investigation of deep basement including the analysis of soil and rock anchor effectiveness, excavation stability and seepage estimates into open excavations. Developed a computer program to analyse the variation of lateral loading with depth in the 50m deep basement excavation in deeply weathered and jointed rock.

Wilge River Arch Dam

Engineering geological feasibility investigation for the Wilge River archdam, located in fissured sandstone and having problems with inter-valley leakage and rock flank instability. Borrow investigation and cut-off recommendations for the saddle-dam extension.

Summary – Current Work Experience by Sector

Sector Categorization
Mining – Geotech studies, training, pit design	70%
Civil / Mining – Dams (TSF’s) / Major structures	20%
Civil – Buildings / Utilities	10%