ASTM International’s committee on geosynthetics (D35) presented its top annual award – the Award of Merit – to Kent P. von Maubeuge, director of corporate identity and corporate communication and senior product manager with Naue GmbH & Co. KG in Espelkamp, Germany. The prestigious award, which includes the accompanying title of fellow, is ASTM’s highest recognition for individual contributions to developing standards.

Fugro is embarking on a coastal mapping project in Jamaica and Haiti to support The Investment Plan for the Caribbean Regional Track of the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience.

Fisia Italimpianti of the Salini Impregilo Group has acquired a contract worth $215 million to build Lot 2 of the Riachuelo system in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a mega engineering and infrastructure project to reduce pollution in the Riachuelo River, the most polluted in the country.

Expanded deadline for to submit abstracts with the main theme "Geosynthetics Solutions for a Fast-Changing World"

See below the sub-topics:

• Case Histories
• Design Approaches and Numerical Solutions
• Drainage and Filtration
• Durability and Long Term Performance
• Geosynthetics in Environmental Applications
• Geosynthetics in Dynamic Applications
• Geosynthetics in Hydraulic Applications
• Geosynthetics in Mining Applications
• Geosynthetics in Highways and Railways
• Geosynthetics Properties
• Geosynthetics Solutions for Natural Disasters
• Innovative Uses and Solutions
• New Geosynthetic Products
• Reinforced Walls and Slopes
• Reinforcement of Embankments and Unpaved Roads
• Seismic Analysis and Applications of Geosynthetics Solutions
• Soil-Geosynthetic Interaction
• Sustainability of Earth Works with Geosynthetics

Keynote Lecturers confirmed

• The Keynote Lecturers are:
• Deny Parra
• Dov Lechchinsky
• Barry R. Christopher
• Richard Brachman
• Jie HAn
• Kerry Rowe

More information: here

Fugro has successfully completed the first of three Malaysian seep hunting and geochemical campaigns for the Provision of Surface Geochemical Survey for Domestic Waters for Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS), Malaysia’s fully integrated oil and gas company.

Epiroc, a leading productivity partner for the mining and infrastructure industries, has entered into an agreement to divest its geotechnical consumables product line.

Hexagon AB, a global leader in digital solutions, announced IDS Georadar Rockspot, a radar system that fills a critical gap in the monitoring of natural and engineered slopes. The system detects, tracks, and analyses the slightest movements from rockfalls, avalanches, and other fast-moving landslide debris flow.

The EDR GmbH expands its foreign business on the African continent. In Iraq and Doha, EDR was already active as consultant. Now it is intended to realize projects in Ethiopia.

Salini Impregilo has won a €530-million contract to build a 153-kilometre section of a new “Orient Express” high-speed railway in Turkey between Istanbul and the border with Bulgaria.

Infrastructure professionals can find out how the latest site characterisation strategies and Geo-data sharing platforms are transforming ground risk management in the delivery of major projects as Fugro launches its 2019 UK seminar programme.

• Total orders acquired (or in process of being finalised) in first quarter: €3.9B
• Order backlog in Australia from 1.5% to 7% of Group’s total
• Snowy 2.0: The biggest green energy plant in Australia

Engineer Pedro Repetto was integrated to the Committee

Soil samples in the laboratory may seem a world apart from the gleaming high tech of the high speed train. Yet both share the spotlight in a current exhibition at the National Railway Museum in York giving a rare insight into the role of testing and prototyping in pushing the boundaries of rail engineering.

A consortium of Van Oord and BAM International completed the construction of the APM Terminals Moín in Costa Rica. The inauguration of the container terminal will enable products to be shipped on transatlantic routes to European and Asian markets without transshipment.

Fugro has been awarded a further substantial marine site characterisation project off the Dutch Coast.

Lundin Gold Inc. reports that a landslide occurred on the North Access Road at the Fruta del Norte Project resulting in the death of an employee, despite the extensive rescue efforts of the Company and local response teams. The employee was operating a loader which was caught in the landslide.

Numbers: 395 located; 179 dead; 131 missing

Humanitarian actions

Vale has been undertaking all efforts to support the people affected in Brumadinho (Minas Gerais), since the early hours of the breach of Dam 1 at the Córrego do Feijão mine, on January 25. The humanitarian assistance includes psychological and social support and emergency medical care; accommodation in hotels, hostels and provisional housing; and supply of food, personal hygiene items and essentials, medicines, clothing and transportation. Check out the latest data about the measures taken by Vale in the region:

• R$2.6 million allocated to the city of Brumadinho for purchase of emergency equipment and hiring of healthcare professionals and psychological and social assistants, with the aim of improving the humanitarian aid in the affected municipalities;
• Vale invested R$6.5 million in leading-edge equipment for the Forensic Medical Institute (IML) of Belo Horizonte;
• R$100,000.00 donation to the families of each victim of the dam breach; 264 payments made;
• R$50,000.00 donation, by residence, to those who resided in the Self-Rescue Zone: 57 payments made;
• R$15,000.00 donation to those who had their business activities affected (early registration);
• R$118 million allocated for acquisition of medicines, water, equipment and other logistics costs;
• 1,400 professionals working in 11 help centers set up to assist the affected people, in Brumadinho, Belo Horizonte, Nova Lima e Itabiritos;
• 5,000 medical and psychological consultations;
• 35,000 pharmacy items purchased;
• More than 12 million liters of water for human and animal consumption and agricultural irrigation distributed to 15 cities;
• 10 hospitals and health units mobilized to assist the affected people;
• 322 accommodations arranged;

Emergency payments

• Preliminary Adjustment Agreement (TAP) that will anticipate the emergency payments to all residents of Brumadinho and those who resided within a 1km radius of the Paraopeba riverbed, between Brumadinho and the city of Pompéu, at the Retiro de Baixo dam;
• Indemnity amounts: monthly payment of one minimum wage per adult, 50% of the minimum wage per adolescent, and 25% of the minimum wage per child, for a period of 12 months, starting on January 25;
• Vale will keep paying 2/3 of the salaries of all employees and third-party employees who died in the breach until the company signs the final indemnity agreement;
• The missing people will continue to receive their salaries;
• Guarantee of employment or salary for employees of Brumadinho, including third-party employees, until December 31, 2019;
• Health insurance for the family members of Vale employees and third-party employees, subject to a registration scheme, with coverage throughout the state of Minas Gerais. Widows or partners will receive whole-of-life insurance while dependents will be covered for up to 22 years;
• Psychological assistance to workers until discharge;
• R$920 in daycare assistance for employees with children up to the age of three;
• R$998 in educational assistance for children of employees until they turn 18.

Environment

• Daily collection of water and sediments in 48 different points between the Paraopeba river, the Três Marias reservoir and the São Francisco river;
• One hospital and one shelter to assist and accommodate the animals;
• 348 animals rescued;
• 73 fish rescued;
• 184 professionals (among veterinarians, biologists and technicians) dedicated to rescuing the local fauna.

Tailings retention works

•     Section 1 (up to 10 Km from the Dam I breach site):
• Vale will build a dike (consisting of blocks of compacted rock) for the retention of the thicker and heavier tailings. In parallel, the transport and storage of rocks that will be used in the construction of the structure is in progress;
• Vale will install more hydraulic barriers and small dams to assist in the tailings control process;
• The company is also studying the implementation of a Water Treatment Station (ETA) to reduce the turbidity of the water in the Ferro-Carvão stream. The purpose is to return the cleaned water to the Paraopeba River;
• The company has also begun removing the tailings that blocked a stretch of the Alberto Flores Avenue and the installation of a metal barrier to prevent the tailings from covering the road again;
• Construction of a 50-meter metal bridge to restore access to the communities of Parque da Cachoeira and Córrego do Feijão to the central area of Brumadinho.
•     Section 2 (10 to 30 kilometer area that stretches to the city of Juatuba):
• Vale is mobilizing and installing equipment that will be used to dredge the coarsest debris, like sand and stones. The main objectives are cleaning and de-sanding the Paraopeba river channel;
• The residue will be collected by two dredgers and will be disposed of properly, outside of the Permanent Preservation Area (APP) of the river.
•     Stretch 3 (170 kilometer stretch of the Paraopeba River between Juatuba and the Retiro Baixo Plant):
• Installation of five turbidity barriers (membranes): three in the Pará de Minas region and two others in the municipalities of Juatuba and Betim, before the Igarapé Thermoelectric Plant;
• Specific monitoring show that the efficiency of barriers installed in the river imply in a 10% to 15% reduction in its water turbidity levels.

Dams

• 10 upstream dams - currently inactive - will be decommissioned within three years;
• Decommissioning is the process of ending use of a dam permanently. After the works are carried out, the remaining structure is no longer characterized as a dam under the applicable legislation;
• By order of Brazil's National Mining Agency, Vale raised the emergency status of the Sul Superior (Barão de Cocais); B3/B4 and Vargem Grande (Nova Lima); Forquilhas I, II and III and Grupo (Ouro Preto) dams to Level 2;
• Vale relocated about to 700 people living in the Self-Rescue Zone (area within a 10km radius downstream of the dam) in the municipalities of Barão de Cocais, Nova Lima and Ouro Preto;
• Of this total, about 500 are staying in hotels and the others preferred to stay at relatives' homes;
• In total, Vale has accommodated 286 people in Brumadinho. Of those, 208 are staying in guesthouses, hotels and homes rented by Vale, while 78 preferred to stay with their relatives and friends;
• Breakdown of the rescued population by dam:

•     Barão de Cocais, Nova Lima and Ouro Preto:

• Sul Superior: approximately 450
• Forquilhas I, II and III: four people
• B3/B4: approximately 250 people
• Vargem Grande: approximately 40

•    Brumadinho:

• Dam I: 286

 

Source: Vale

Whether it is drilling, diaphragm wall, piling or mixing plant technology, visitors to the Bauma booth FN 520 (open-air area north) of the Bauer Maschinen Group will once again experience the entire range of specialist foundation technology in April. "As we are a global player with Bavarian roots, Bauma in Munich is of course always a very special highlight," explains Dr. Ruediger Kaub, Managing Director of Bauer Maschinen GmbH. In addition to the core range of Bauer rotary drilling rigs, the MC series of duty-cycle cranes, diaphragm wall technology with cutters and grabs, the subsidiaries Klemm, Prakla, Hausherr, RTG, ABS Trenchless and MAT will also be showing off their equipment and systems.

E-Power Pipe^® is a trenchless method for the economic and environmentally friendly installation of underground cables. The new development from Herrenknecht has been nominated for the bauma Innovation Award 2019 in the "Machine” category. Trenchless technology offers significant advantages over the conventional open-cut method. The innovative procedure closes a technical gap because it allows small diameter drives with ten times greater lengths, shallower depths as well as high precision and speed.

The Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, located in Cengkareng, Banten, suburb of the Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta, is one of the largest airports in Asia and 17th world’s busiest airport with an annual passenger volume of around 63 million (as of 2017). In order to deal with the increasing number of flights (now at over 447 thousand flight movements per year) and to optimize the time taken for ground handling of individual aircraft, a new connecting taxiway will be constructed to connect the existing runways at east side of airport. Currently, there is only one connecting taxiway located at west side of airport which supported for all aircraft’s movement.