Newsletter March 2014

 

 

SAIEG NEWSLETTER

 

 

Note from the Editor

We are up and running into 2014 and it’s already April, 2014 is already flying by. This year SAIEG turns 30, and this was celebrated at the Annual Gala Dinner at the end of February. Let’s hope that 2014 is a good and successful year for SAIEG and for all of us!

Lindi Richer

 

 


 

 

 

President’s Message

Welcome to the first newsletter of 2014. Looking back at 2013, SAIEG had a good year in terms of hosting events, which included a number of courses and lectures, a site visit and speciality conference. Internationally there were a few events, but the big one for 2014 is the 12th IAEG Congress in Italy this September, which also marks the IAEG’s 50th anniversary.

Speaking of anniversary’s, this year is SAIEG’s 30th. The event was celebrated at the recent Gala Dinner and Gold Award evening with a colourful 80’s theme, hilarious comedian, and a huge cake emblazed with the SAIEG emblem.  Although the preceding AGM ran a little overtime, there were a number of important issues requiring discussion including SACNASP, NHBRC, and SANS. It’s a clear sign that the SAIEG council remains committed to being active with these groups and participating wherever possible.  So, for more about these and other happenings within SAIEG, I hope you enjoy the March 2014 Newsletter…

Richard Puchner

 

 


 

 

Regional Report Backs

 

 

Limpopo

Works are steadily progressing at Medupi Power Station with the commissioning of the first unit, Unit 6 (being constructed in reverse order i.e. Units 6-1) scheduled at the end of 2014. The current good progress is in stark contrast to 2013 when the first four months of the year were effectively lost due to industrial action. Let’s hope the current good progress continues… Read more

 

Eastern Cape

 

Geotechnical work in the Eastern Cape continues unabated. A few of our more fortunate members have had in depth influence into the many windfarms springing up in many parts of the Eastern Cape while roads – both new and upgrades – still determine much of our work… Read more

 

 

 

 

 

KZN

 

This has been a good year in KZN on the ‘social’ front. We have had at least two get-togethers of DREGS (Durban and Region/Rural Engineering Geological Society, or something like that), albeit one was arranged very last minute and attended by only five old timers. I count myself in the old timers so I’m allowed to say that. These are purely social (which for geologists means discussing work), catching up on who is doing what and where, with lots of stories about the ‘good old days’… Read more

 

 


 

 

International News

 

 

 AEG

The 56th Annual Meeting of the AEG was held during in Seattle, Washington during September 2013. There were two South Africans at Seattle this year, Robert Leyland and Oliver Barker.  Both are full members of the AEG (SA Section).  Both Oliver and Rob presented papers and Oliver also chaired a technical working group (TWG)  session on “Geological Resource Management”… Read more

IAEG

The 2013 annual IAEG Executive meeting was held in Beijing in September. Preparations for and the publishing of a commemorative book to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of IEAG at the 2014 Congress in Turin are well underway. The Bulletin of Engineering Geology continues to flourish under the editorship of Martin Culshaw and regular editions are received by members who subscribe to the Bulletin… Read more

 

 


 

 

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Tokwe Mukosi dam failure, Zimbabwe

Most of you probably read or heard about the dam failure in Zimbabwe in early February. A dam being built on the Tokwe River in Masvingo, Zimbabwe was close to bursting, as water from heavy rains ran through gaps in the uncompleted dam wall… Read more

 

 


 

 

SAIEG AGM & Gala Dinner

SAIEG held the 30th AGM and Gala Dinner on the 28th February.  The event began with the Annual General Meeting which included a message from the President, a financial review, reportbacks from the various provinces and International societies. There were a number of additional issues that required discussion these included SACNASP, NHBRC, and SANS…  Read more

 

 


 

  

Election of Council

Our new council for 2014 was elected at the end of last year. They are:

1.             George Brink        (Treasurer)

2.             Amrita Maharaj    (Events)

3.             Robert Leyland    (Membership & AEG rep)

4.             Lindi Richer          (Newsletter and website)

5.             Louis van Rooy    (Awards)

6.             Phil Paige-Green                 (Geotech division liason)

7.             Debbie Abel         (resident KZN rep)

 

The three Non-elected members who form part of Executive Council remain as:

1.             Richard Puchner                  President

2.             Greg Heath                           Vice-President

3.             John Stiff                               Past President and IAEG rep

 

 


 

 

NEW NHBRC HOMEBUILDERS MANUAL

 

The NHBRC has announced its intention to update its Homebuilders Manual which will affect the practice of a whole range of practitioners involved in home building i.e plumbers, glazers, builders, geotechnical etc... Read more

 

 

 


 

 

SACNASP News

SACNASP is growing from strength to strength and has grown in terms of its relevance and sphere of influence among the scientific professions. It is beginning to fulfil its mandate described in the Act and under the directorship of Dr. Rolf Becker, who is the managing director of the day-to-day runnings of the Council, is embarking on dynamic initiatives to reach out to members and encourage membership and participation from the constituent scientific disciplines. SAIEG is taking initiative to get involved in the affairs of SACNASP and intend formalising our association with the PAC for Earth Sciences to assist inter alia with the vetting of memberships within our engineering geology sub-discipline. SACNASP administers your right to practice as an engineering geologist and therefore deserves your support. It offers services to the fraternity such as a CPD programme, which is being developed, and has negotiated and secured a professional indemnity insurance scheme for registered professionals for you to consider.

John Stiff

 

 


 

Awards

 

 

Gold Award      

 

The SAIEG Gold Medal Award was awarded to longstanding SAIEG member, Mr Joe De Beer during the Gala Dinner on 28 February 2014. A number of you would have probably used his detailed geological map of downtown Johannesburg. Seasoned Gold Award introducer, Tony A’Bear, provided an introduction to Joe at the Gala Dinner, noting that this is the first award to go to an environmental geologist… Read more     

 

Student Award 

 

Two nominations for student awards were received from UKZN. The winner of the 2013 student award, as elected during the last council meeting is Mr. Prenolan Naidoo. His nomination was based on overall performance in the Engineering Geology courses as well as the high standard of his independent research project entitled: ‘Slope stability analyses of the proposed reconstituted slope of the Quarry Heights Drive landslide, Durban, South Africa’. The prize will be handed over during a special short ceremony at UKZNRead more

 

 

A B A Brink Award    

 

Did you know that if you’ve had a paper published (in a peer review journal) recently you could be up to win a prize.  Submit your paper on our website to stand a chance to win… More details

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

University News

 

 

KZN

The discipline of Geological Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) continues to attract students for postgraduate studies in Engineering and Environmental Geology.  In this current academic year, a total of 16 students were accepted for the honours program in the Environmental and Engineering Geology stream... Read more 

 

 


 

 

Electronic Communication

 

The website is continually being updated with current news and events, although there may be some pages which go unnoticed for a while. If you spot anything outdated or out of the ordinary, please contact the webmaster.

 

As for other internet related communications, we’ve had a hiccup with the SAIEG Facebook page and a new one had to be created. Please just go back and “Re-Like” the SAIEG Page with the most recent activity on it.  Facebook

 

A LinkedIn SAIEG Group has been created please go and join the group.  SAIEG LinkedIn  

 

 


 

 

Condolences

 

We are deeply saddened to have received news of  the recent passing of Dave George on the 11 Jan 2014. Our thoughts are with his family during this difficult time.  

 

 


 

 

Obituaries

 

 

Dave George

1948-2014

C.S. Lewis once said “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” – and how true this was of Dave George, who sadly passed away on 4th January 2014 after a long and brave struggle with cancer.  Most of us remember him as a deep thinking and constantly challenging engineering geologist, but Dave was so much more – philosopher, farmer, developer and inventor. 

 

Dave was born in 1948 and grew up in the Greytown area of Natal going on to study geology at Natal University obtaining his honours degree in 1970.  Dave joined the Geological Survey of South Africa in 1971 where he worked in the Dams & Underground section of the Engineering Geology Division.  In 1974 he registered at Newcastle-upon-Tyne University in England obtaining his MSc in 1975, after which he moved to Austria where he worked on the Aarlberg Tunnel gaining experience in the NATM system.

 

Dave rejoined the Geological Survey working on numerous dam and underground projects in South Africa until 1980 when he formed George Orr & Associates with Chris Orr.  The firm concentrated on engineering geological studies for dam foundations and tunnel support systems. During this period Dave developed a passion for hydro-electricity generation and spent many months researching rivers around South Africa to produce a tour de force report entitled “Water for Power in South Africa” in 1983.  In the mid-80’s Dave submitted an alternative water and power supply to the Lesotho Highlands Scheme known as the Orange-Vaal Rivers Water Scheme. Bedevilled by “red-tape” his innovative proposals never saw the light of day, but Dave never lost his enthusiasm for ecological forms of power generation, registering Ecogen Power Company (Pty) Ltd in 1998.

 

In his later life Dave poured his energy into farming and developing a magnificent retreat in the Drakensberg Mountains, in fact it is situated on the farm Vergezient that he once walked when investigating the Drakensberg Pump Storage Scheme. Today guests can stay at the Drakensberg Mountain Retreat in the rustic Barnhouse or the splendid Vergezient Lodge.  Here his love of Shakespeare and philosophy are evident in the names of the hiking trails and view-points. Dave was devoted to his family and cared for his mother throughout her later life.  Dave loved his dogs most of which were rescued from some unfortunate circumstance and generally travelled everywhere with him. Even in his last days Dave was always thinking of his friends and family and their needs, indeed like CS Lewis he always put others first and himself last – bless you Dave for all you meant to family and friends.

 

 

 

Dirk Hermanus van der Merwe

1926 – 2013

Dirk van der Merwe was born in Ladybrand in the Orange Free State province, where he also matriculated.

 

He then attended Stellenbosch University where he  obtained a B.Sc degree with major subjects Mathematics and Geology in 1946. During this period he met his future wife, Rita.

 

While she was completing her studies and training as a nurse at Groote Schuur hospital, he started working for the Geological Survey in Pretoria for the next three years.

 

When they decided to get married, he thought his future wife would not get used to life in the bush, where he was doing surveys, so he resigned from the Department and went to the University of Cape Town to study for a Higher Education Diploma. His career as a teacher lasted exactly one term, whereafter his wife could not stand his obvious discomfort in a suit and tie, and convinced him to return to the Geological Survey.

 

Thus began a period of living in a caravan, travelling through Northern Transvaal, North West Province, passing through Kimberley, Calvinia, Kenhardt, Carnavon, even up to Mariental in the then South West Africa, mapping the geology of the regions and siting borehole locations.

 

Three of their four children were born during this nomadic life, and only when their first daughter approached school going age did he quit the life in the bush and joined the National Building Research Institute at the CSIR in Pretoria in 1954.

 

His experience in Mariental in Namibia introduced him to swelling clay and its effect on buildings and roads. That paved the way for his main area of research at the NBRI – the effect of swelling clays and how to predict the amount of heave, leading to solutions that prevented damage to buildings and roads. The method that he developed to predict heave is still used today and is called ‘ the Van der Merwe Method’ in the industry.  During this time at NIBR he worked with Dr AAB Williams.

 

During 1959 he was sent to Delft in Holland to study the geological interpretation of aerial photography, which was a new technology at the time.

Back at NBRI he did further research and obtained both M.Sc and D.Sc degrees through the University of Pretoria. He was set in his life at NBRI when he was invited to join an upcoming consulting engineering company, Bruinette, Kruger, Stoffberg & Hugo, during 1965 in Pretoria.

 

He joined as an associate and became a director in 1968, developing the Geotechnical Division of BKS and becoming, in the process, a specialist on geotechnical investigations and solutions and his extensive knowledge of the behaviour of soils led to numerous appointments.  At BKS people such as Johan Lourens, Ettienne Terblanche, Kobus Venter and Dave Purnell worked with him for long periods.

 

During 1984, at the age of 58, he decided to return to the Cape and transferred to the BKS office in Bellville to develop a geotechnical division for the company in the Cape Province. His job done, he retired from the company in 1986 at the age of 60.

 

At the time, they were living on a small holding just outside Stellenbosch, and he started growing grapes and making wine as a hobby.

 

Although he was supposed to have retired, his knowledge and expertise prompted clients to keep on requesting him to do investigations, and he enjoyed doing the field work again, writing reports, compiling borehole logs, everything that he missed during the latter part of his career when management took up a large amount of his time.

 

He kept up working like this until the age of 81, when he finally called it a day. The last years of his life was spent with his wife at their family holiday house at Franskraal, close to Gansbaai.

 

He passed away on 14 October 2013, leaving his wife, four children, 14 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.

 

The obituary was compiled mainly by his oldest son, also Dirk van der Merwe and Kobus Venter, with various persons who also assisted.

 

Dirk vd Merwe

 

 

 

Gregory Paul Dyke

1963 – 2013

Greg was raised and completed his early schooling in Durban and Amanzimtoti after which his family moved to Swakopmund, Namibia, or South West Africa as it was known then, where he completed his schooling.  On completion of his military service, he graduated with a BSc in Geology from the University of Port Elizabeth in 1985, which was followed by an Honours degree at Rhodes in 1986.

 

Following his graduation from Rhodes, Greg started his career at Anglovaal, as so many geologists did, and then worked for Ninham Shand, Knight, Hall, Hendry and Associates and McKnight Geotechnical Consulting, before joining SRK in June 2001.   He remained at SRK until July 2007, before a 2 year sojourn with AngloGoldAshanti (AGA), returning to SRK in August 2009, where he remained until his untimely passing in October 2013.

 

Greg was committed to technical excellence and was always motivated to gain new knowledge.  19 Years after completing his BSc, he obtained a Graduate Diploma in Mining Engineering from Wits University in 2005, followed by an MSc (Engineering) in 2007, with his thesis based on Rock Mass Characterization.   He was a registered Professional Natural Scientist, a member of SAIEG, SANIRE and the GSSA as well as a Council Member of the SAIEG from 20072008.

 

During his service at SRK and AGA, Greg’s main focus was open pit mining geotechnics, during which time he travelled widely, and was a conscientious engineering geology practitioner of high moral standing.  He looked after his clients to the n’th degree, and provided ongoing mentorship to juniors in our company.  He was also always willing to help and assist his colleagues when required.  Candidate engineers and scientists would readily turn to Greg for a shoulder to lean on when times were trying or to share in ideas and career aspirations his patience and support seemed infinite.  His sincerity earned him the respect and admiration of his junior colleagues.

 

Greg’s hobbies included cycling, fishing and military history he could tell at a glance if a Spitfire was a Mark 4 or a Mark 9 with modified armaments, and once he started on the subject, it was very difficult to get away from him.  One had to hover in his office doorway, and then say that you could hear your phone ringing, and would have to rush, in order to get away!!!

 

Greg’s family was extremely important to him, and no business appointment or trip away from the office was more important than a birthday, an anniversary, a hockey game or a rugby match.  Greg leaves his wife Maryna, and two children behind Melissa, who in matric this year, and Benjamin who has just started Standard 6 at KES.  He is sorely missed by his family, friends and colleagues at SRK.

 

Peter Terbrugge

 

 


 

 

Membership

 

We would like to welcome the following members:

Pierre Roux - Member

Dewald Kruger - Member

Ayanda Nxumalo - Candidate

 

Student members

Thabo Hlongwane

Gudani Mudzielwana

Avuyile Kewana

Mmeli Luzipo

Lebea Mohale

Luke Brouwers

Patience Ratshalingwa

Abongile Qakamba

Georges Libuna

Konanani Mphephu

 

A number of new applications were reviewed and provisionally approved by the SAIEG council at the last council meeting. These are:

 

Kogalin Reddy (Affiliate)

Itai Mazmetese (Affiliate)

Johannes Nell (Member)

James Dutchman (Member)

Rahul Shiram (Member)

Paul-John Aucamp (Member)

Brendon Jones (Candidate)

Nanine Fouche (Candidate)

 

Existing members of SAIEG have two weeks to lodge any objections regarding their regarding their suitability before they are accepted. Should no written objection to the applicants’ election be lodged with the Secretariat (secretariat@saieg.co.za) within fourteen days of publication, the applicant will be accepted.

 

 


 

 

Financials

 

Click here for the Treasurer’s Report.

Click here for the Balance Sheet and Budget for 2014.

 

 


 

 

Forthcoming Events

·         Courses

o    Soil profiling, core and chip logging course, Midrand, 26-28 March 2014

o    Rock Identification Course, Cape Town, TBA

·         Seminars

o    Dolomite Seminar 2014, Pretoria, 24-25 June 2014

·         Conferences

o    12th IAEG Congress 2014, Turin Italy, 15-19 September 2014

o    8th South African Young Geotechnical Engineers Conf., Stellenbosch, 17-19 September 2014

o    57th AEG Annual Meeting, Scottsdale Arizona, 20-28 September 2014

·         Lectures

o    The History of SAIEG by Kobus Venter, Midrand, 29 May 2014

o    Tony Brink Lecture, TBA

·         Site Visits

o    None are planned at the moment but if anyone is involved in a project which may be of interest to our members, please let us know and we’ll arrange a site visit

For more information on any of these Click here.

 

 


 

Contact Details

 

 

President

Richard Puchner

Email: president@saieg.co.za

Membership

Robert Leyland

Email: membership@saieg.co.za

Website

Lindi Richer

Email: webmaster@saieg.co.za

 

 

 

 

Vice President

Greg Heath

Email: vicepresident@saieg.co.za

AEG Representative

Robert Leyland

Email: AEGrep@saieg.co.za

Events

Amy Maharaj

Email: events@saieg.co.za

 

 

 

 

Treasurer

George Brink

Email: treasurer@saieg.co.za

Newsletter

Lindi Richer

Email: editor@saieg.co.za

Secretariat

RCA (Dianne Brooks & Yolandé Oosthuizen)

Email: accounts@saieg.co.za

Email: secretariat@saieg.co.za

 

 


 

 

CORPORATE SPONSORS OF SAIEG 2014

 

 

 

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