|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
Note from the Editor
Season’s greetings to all SAIEG members! As the year draws to a close I wish you all a happy and safe holiday. I think it has been a fairly busy year for most of us, with two large conferences, the “first” was the First Southern African Geotechnical Conference hosted by the Geotechnical Division of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) and the second was the 35th International Geological Conference held in Cape Town in August, both of which were a resounding success!
This is the final newsletter of the year. This year has had its ups and downs, I’m certainly glad it is coming to an end!
Lindi Richer
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
| |
President's Message
Another year has almost passed, as has my 2-year term as President of SAIEG, a busy but exciting period. As I hand over the reins of SAIEG to Louis for the next two years, I am sure that SAIEG will go from strength to strength under his leadership and experience.
I think the highlight (and probably the most time-consuming activity) of my term was the organisation of the engineering geology component of the 35th IGC in Cape Town. This, together with the organisation of the IAEGExecutive and Council meetings and associated activities by Louis was a milestone for SAIEG, and although it made a slight dent in our finances, was unanimously acclaimed as a success and was much appreciated by the IAEG Executive.
The number of evening activities this year was reduced because of the IGC but we had a very successful Tony Brink Memorial Lecture, ably and entertainingly given by Gary Jones. This attracted the biggest turn-out that we have ever had for an evening lecture, indicative of the respect in which Gary is held by the Geotechnical and Engineering Geology fraternity in South Africa. Gary has kindly agreed to repeat his presentation in Durban and Cape Town early in 2017.
Although business is fluctuating among our members, it appears that most of us have sufficient work to keep going and importantly to mentor some of our recent graduates, who will take over from us older practitioners over the next few years.
The AGM and awards evening is planned for the 3rd March 2017, so reserve this date and make sure you are able to attend – we have arranged a most entertaining guest speaker for the evening.
As we all prepare for the year-end break and start winding-down, I would like to wish you and your families all the best for a safe and relaxed festive season, drive carefully if you are going away and we look forward to an interesting and productive 2017 for SAIEG.
Phil Paige-Green
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
Regional Report Backs
|
| |
| |
Western Cape
Aurecon Cape Town recently won a SANRAL tender for Consulting Engineering Services for Geotechnical Services for The Western Region: Slope Management System. The contract period is 3 years and the proposed project is located within the boundaries of the Northern and Western Cape provinces of South Africa and is situated along the following proclaimed National Routes: N1, N2, N7, N8, N9, N10, N12, N14, N18, R27 and R300... Read more
|
|
| |
| |
KZN
Work is ticking over but there is nothing really big or meaty happening at the moment in KZN. Everyone is in a rush to meet deadlines ahead of the Christmas shut-down. One thing that is meaty is a BYO braai for the local engineering geological fraternity on 8 December; contact KZNrep@saieg.co.za for details if anyone will be in Durban on the 8th and would like to join us.
|
|
| |
| |
UKZN
Things are trundling along in my neck of woods but nothing significant except ongoing works at Eskom’s Medupi Power Station in Lephalale and upgrades to N1 bypass in Polokwane.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
International News
|
| |
| |
AEG
 I was lucky enough to attend the AEG annual meeting during September as the Chair of the South African Chapter and as the Regional Director Designate. The meeting was held in Waikoloa which is a golf course/beach resort on the north western side of Hawaii (the biggest of the Hawaiian Islands), also known as “the Big island”.
The meeting was well attended despite the relatively costly location, even for dollar earning professions. 224 Members and 52 non-members registered for the full conference, when exhibitors, guests and field trip registrations are considered approximately 416 people attended all or part of the meeting. International attendees included those from SA, Oman, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Singapore and Australia. Many of the delegates that attended did however have some connection to Hawaii, which included having lived and work there at some stage or having a satellite office in Honolulu. The topics presented included many projects undertaken by the US Corps of Engineers that have been responsible for many projects in Hawaii but are currently also very active in Alaska...
Read more
|
|
| |
IAEG
SAIEG hosted two Executive Committee Meetings and the annual Council Meeting of the IAEG during the 35th IGC held in Cape Town during August 2016. The full day Exco was held at De Grendel Winery with the half day meeting in central Cape Town. Both days were perfect blue sky days with very little wind. The full day council meeting was arranged at the Twelve Apostles Hotel near Camps Bay also with near perfect weather. The council members from the East started eating the barbequed red meat from the grills long before we sat down for the formal dinner.
During the IAEG council meeting the Exco presented a draft strategy document and for the first time in the history of IAEG a clear vision and mission were formulated as follows:
IAEG VISION
Our vision is a world in which the risk to human life and to the built environment caused by geological interaction is appropriately managed and reduced.
IAEG MISSION
To provide society with the means to recognize and appropriately manage the problems created by the interaction between geology and human works and activities.
Read more
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
First Rock Identification Course in KZN
SAIEG presented the Rock Identification for Engineers in Shongweni, KZN for the first time on the 21st and 22nd October 2016. It was fairly well attended with 17 delegates that all provided very positive feedback in their course evaluations. The course comprises a single day of theory and hand specimen practical examples followed by another day of field examples. Delegates also have the choice of attending only one of the two days…
Read more
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
Awards
|
| |
| |
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
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
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.
Please go and “Like” our SAIEG Facebook Page.
A LinkedIn SAIEG Group has been created please go and join the group. SAIEG LinkedIn
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
SAIEG Committee for 2017
The closing date for nominations of the 2017-2018 SAIEG council members was 11 November 2016. The three non-elected members who form part of Executive Council are as follows:
- President: Louis van Rooy
- Vice-President: Robert Leyland
- Past President: Phil Paige-Green
The following were nominated for the SAIEG Council for 2017/2018:
- Lindi Richer
- Paul Aucamp
- Siyamazi Ndlovu
- Siyabonga Nyathi
- Debbie Abel
- Izak Breytenbach
According to the Constitution, all will become members of Council without the need for an election. Portfolios will be allocated at the first meeting in February, 2017.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
Membership
Only one new application to join SAIEG was received by the council before the meeting on the 3rd November. This is:
Affiliate member
While the SAIEG committee has provisionally accepted this candidate, our constitution does allow for members to lodge any objections regarding their suitability. Members have two weeks to lodge any objections.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
UP
The honours class of 2016 recently embarked on the annual end-of-year excursion to conclude the academic program and to have a few days of relaxation in good company. The 1358 km trip saw us visiting as many road cuttings as we could find along our route, during which the academic staff demonstrated the occurrence of the geological features that were observed as well as the appropriate engineering geological solutions that were implemented in various sites... Read more
|
|
UKZN
The Geol706 fieldtrip, is aimed at providing Engineering and Environmental Geology students with a more cognitive and practical understanding of the functions and facilities of the electricity generating sector of South Africa, and the accompanied environmental and geotechnical considerations of such activities, whilst providing a platform for individual growth towards future geotechnical or environmental careers. The 2016 fieldtrip endeavoured to achieve the above, and through the support and funding of SAIEG, it was made possible... Read more
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
Forthcoming Events
Courses
- Soil profiling, core and chip logging course, Midrand, TBA 2017
- Rock Identification course, Midrand, TBA 2017
Lectures
- None planned at the moment
Site Visits
- 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.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| SAIEG CORPORATE SPONSORS 2016
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| |
