Ground Engineering

Jun 25, 2020

	Integrated Approach At Mount Polley Delivers Environmental Restoration Following a breach in August 2014, Mount Polley Mining Corporation (MPMC) asked Golder to assist their remediation and restoration efforts, including environmental assessments, dam design and reconstruction, river and fish habitat restoration, public and Indigenous communication and consultation, and permitting and water management.
	Genesee Arch Bridge: The First True Arch Bridge Built For The Railroad Industry Since The 1940s The Genesee River flows through a deep gorge, affectionately known as the Grand Canyon of the East, located in Letchworth State Park, near the town of Portageville, New York. For 137 years, an 819-foot-long steel and iron trestle railroad bridge rose 245 feet above the river. Part of Norfolk Southern’s Southern Tier Route between Buffalo and Binghamton, the Portageville High Bridge’s age was beginning to create supply chain inefficiencies. Rail car weights had to be reduced to 13,000 pounds below the standard, only single trains could traverse the bridge, and all trains were limited to 10 mph after a treacherous approach, a speed limit that added significant time to trade routes throughout Northern New York.
	Drones Support Underground Investigations At Giant Mine Remediation Project The remediation of the former Giant Mine in Yellowknife, NWT, co-managed by the governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories, is a massive undertaking. The Giant Mine Remediation Project’s focus is on managing the arsenic trioxide waste and remediating the entire site. The project is complex, covering over 800 hectares, including several open pits, kilometers of underground development, and surface infrastructure such as tailings containment areas and former mining and milling buildings. Golder supports the project with a multi-disciplinary team of experts leading many aspects of this remediation, including mobilizing a diverse suite of remote investigation methods and tools to guide planning.
	Fifth Water Supply System For Jerusalem In order to supply the water demands of a growing population, Jerusalem is constructing one of its biggest national infrastructure projects ever — a NIS 2.5-billion-dollar water system that will deliver a reliable water supply to consumers. The mega project will connect a number of seawater desalination plants along the coast to the elevated heights of Jerusalem.
	Wollert Waterways – A Sustainable Solution To A Commercial Challenge Increasing demand for aggregates as a result of the transport infrastructure and housing boom in Melbourne prompted our client, Hanson — a leader in building and construction materials — to expand its current quarrying operations in Wollert, a residential growth area north of Melbourne. This expansion, however, required diversion of two natural waterways that formed part of the Findon Creek network.
	Moroccan Potash Mine Moving To Meet Crop-Boosting Demand Potash is a group of potassium-bearing minerals and chemicals that are found in underground deposits that must be mined. There is no substitute for potash in fertilizers, and without its beneficial boost to crop yields we would struggle to feed the world. Identifying new deposits is a part of ensuring a steady supply of potash to meet the growing demands of the world’s agricultural industry.
	How Golder Used Machine Learning To Help A Gold Mine Optimize Operations As a subset of Artificial intelligence (AI), the capabilities of Machine Learning (ML) have improved significantly, allowing companies to optimize and improve a wide range of business operations. Mining companies are no exception and are taking advantage of ML to improve their operations and production — from predictive maintenance to achieving interoperability within different operational teams. Successful ML programs most commonly result in huge efficiencies in both time and resources. Ultimately, this produces financial savings, so it’s little wonder why ML is so desirable for the mining industry.
	Assessing Feasibility Of Slope Design For An Open Pit Copper Mine In Indonesia Golder was engaged to undertake a feasibility-level slope design for the open pit at Elang, a large copper porphyry deposit in Sumbawa, Indonesia. A multi-disciplinary team from Australia and Indonesia included rock mechanics specialists, hydrogeologists and geophysicists who undertook the design and oversaw quality assurance and quality control on the drilling program and laboratory testing campaign.
	Photogrammetry Supports Discrete Fracture Network Analysis For Safe Disposal Of Residual Waste There is a growing global awareness of the need to protect future generations against potential risks from today’s industrial activities. Deep under the bedrock of northern Sweden, Golder has helped demonstrate safe disposal of residual waste from a smelter, in a repository designed to last for 3,000 years. This disposal site for the smelter’s waste is dug into crystalline rock 350 meters (1,150 feet) below sea level. A spiral access tunnel leads from the surface down to the repository level. It is there that nine caverns, 18 meters wide and 15 meters high (60 by 50 feet), with a total length of 1,500 meters (4,920 feet), are planned to be constructed to accommodate the waste.
	Geotechnical Excellence Supports Revitalization Of Canada’s Parliament Buildings Canada’s Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, built in a soaring Gothic Revival style, form one of the most recognizable sights in the country. The seemingly solid, load-bearing masonry walls are surprisingly fragile so when it came time to renovate buildings dating back to the 1860s, it was important to work in a way that would safeguard this key part of the country’s heritage.
	Logan Motorway Enhancement: Geotechnical Design And Supervision For Safety, Stability And Minimal Traffic Disturbance With major population growth in the greater Brisbane area, the 39 km Logan Motorway had exceeded its capacity. A major upgrade commenced in 2016 to widen sections, decrease congestion and construct new on- and off-ramps. The AU$512 million project aimed to improve safety, reduce travel times, enhance connectivity, and futureproof the road network. The project was fully financed and delivered by Transurban Queensland.
	3D Numerical Modelling Solves Challenges For Underground Rail Tunnels To alleviate traffic congestion in the western district of Hong Kong Island, a Mass Transit Railway (MTR) West Island Line (WIL) has been constructed, involving two single-track underground tunnels of 1.62 km total length. Approximately 800 m of the tunnels were constructed using a 6.39 m diameter slurry mix shield tunnel boring machine (TBM) in alternating soil and rock conditions, passing beneath a number of high-rise buildings that had been constructed on old reclaimed land.
	Enabling Development Approval And Design For A Pumped Hydro Project In South Australia As Australia’s energy market transitions to greater proportions of variable renewable energy sources, storage solutions for reliable supply are needed. Pumped hydro energy storage is an alternative to large-scale batteries, with the advantage of providing long-duration storage. Goat Hill is an inland pumped hydro project with a capacity of up to 250 MW and 8 hours of storage, located approximately 12km west of Port Augusta, South Australia.
	Solving Seismic And Water Issues At An Ecuadorian Gold Mine The Fruta del Norte gold mine in Ecuador’s mountainous province of Zamora-Chinchipe faced challenges of seismic activity, poor ground conditions and heavy rainfall. The previous attempt to provide a new access tunnel to the mine did not utilize a water-tight lining structure, which resulted in flooding and eventual abandonment.
	Overcoming Challenging Soil Conditions To Safely Deliver A New Brisbane International Cruise Terminal The construction of the Brisbane International Cruise Terminal commenced in April 2019, delivering a major boost to the region’s tourism infrastructure. Located at the mouth of the Brisbane River, the project is being delivered by Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd (PBPL) and is targeting completion by mid-2020. To meet this deadline, it is critical that pre-construction reclamation and ground treatment proceeds without delays. Associated acid sulfate soils and groundwater also need to be managed to meet regulatory requirements and minimise impacts to surrounding communities.
	Supporting The Development Of Perth’s Rail Network METRONET is an ambitious long-term rail enhancement plan by the Public Transport Authority (PTA) to connect the suburbs of Perth, reduce road congestion and meet the city’s future public transport needs over the next 50 to 100 years. Golder was involved in some of the first programs of work for METRONET, including conducting the geotechnical and environmental investigations for the Thornlie-Cockburn rail link, the rail extension at Yanchep, and the removal of the level crossing at Denny Avenue. We were engaged to facilitate the design and construction of civil works for these three projects.
	Overcoming Redevelopment Hurdles To Pave The Way For Ottawa’s Greystone Village Plans for one of the largest remaining under-developed properties in central Ottawa, Canada provide insight to future priorities in urban design: mixed use, pedestrian friendly and welcoming to the general public. Golder’s involvement in the master-planned Greystone Village project, which includes brownfields redevelopment and historic building aspects, earned Regional Group and Golder a “Brownie” award from the Canadian Brownfields Network in 2018.
	FracMan® Discrete Fracture Network Analysis Supports Extraction At An Open-Pit Mine It’s a problem that has perplexed miners since the earliest humans dug pits into the ground in search of metal ore: how steep can the walls of the pit be, to balance efficiency against safety? A steeply-sloped pit means less waste rock to move out of the way to get to the orebody, plus a smaller geographic footprint, and usually, lower financial costs. However, the steeper the pit walls are, the more vulnerable they are to collapse, endangering workers and delaying production.
	What’s Trending In Brownfield Development: Avenir Centre Case Study The development of a brownfield property in Moncton, New Brunswick in Eastern Canada illustrates some of the trends in site remediation – a focus on risk assessment, taking soil contaminants into account in building design, and beneficial re-use of materials. This property, a former railway yard, had been impacted with a wide range of contaminants due to its previous use. Now, the site has been reborn as the Avenir Centre, a 10,000-seat indoor arena for sports including ice hockey and basketball, as well as cultural events and corporate meeting spaces, which boasts a year-round community gathering spot on beautifully landscaped grounds.
	Rockfall Mitigation And Slope Stabilisation For An Earthquake-Damaged, Cliffside Road In New Zealand In 2010 and 2011 a series of earthquakes caused major damage in and around Christchurch, New Zealand. Sumner Road is an important link between Christchurch, the Port of Lyttleton, the communities of Sumner and Lyttelton, and is also a popular scenic tourist drive. It was very badly damaged in the earthquakes by thousands of cubic metres of rock falling onto the road from the steep slopes above. Sections of the road were also severely damaged by failed retaining walls. The road needed to be rebuilt, and rugged bluffs above required stabilising to reduce the risk of further rockfalls.
	Pioneering Open Pit Mine Approach To Predicting Potential Waves Owners of a large open-pit mine in the United States embarked on a program to minimize ongoing risks and plan for responsible closure after the ore body is exhausted. The owner’s concern centered on how a proposed pit lake – the body of water that may form in the mine pit due to natural surface and ground water infilling – would impact pit rock wall stability. (Read more about the hazards pit lakes present and Golder’s use of drones for safe water sampling.)
	Block Caving Reaches Deeper Deposits At KSM Golder is helping plan development of what could become one of the biggest gold-copper mines in the world, using an efficient and cost-effective underground mining method that offers the production of open-pit mining combined with the ability of underground mining to reach deposits at depth. That method, called block caving, is being proposed as an option to economically extract deeper mineral deposits, or those located in challenging terrain less amenable to open pit mining.
	Allaying Community Concerns For Safety At A Radioactive Waste Site In Korea South Koreans are experiencing a heightened sensitivity to the management of radioactive materials since the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster on March 2011 in nearby Japan, as well as a series of earthquakes and aftershocks in South Korea including the 2016 Gyeongju (the most powerful in the country since modern recording began in the 1970s) and the 2017 Pohang earthquake.
	A Better Understanding Of Induced Seismic Activity And Hydrofracturing Golder’s proprietary software program, FracMan® is being used to shed light on the impacts of the oil and gas industry’s activities in the US states of Texas and Oklahoma. From this, the two state governments hope to design regulations and best practices to protect people and the environment while still allowing the industry to function efficiently.
	Airport PFAS Survey: Exploring New Human And Environmental Risk Factors PFAS, or Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, are compounds that have become of increasing concern around the globe because their use and persistence has resulted in a legacy of environmental contamination and a potential for risk to human health and the environment. Because of their unique properties, PFAS have been widely used worldwide for over half a century in industrial applications and products in all sectors of the economy including infrastructure, manufacturing, oil and gas and mining. They can also be found in a variety of household items, from carpeting, to food wrappers, to apparel and other products.
	Bat-Friendly Progressive Rehabilitation Of Historic Edison Mine The rehabilitation of legacy mine sites is an ongoing challenge. Public safety and environmental protection are key considerations in the advancement of mine closure practices. Eaton retained Golder to complete the progressive rehabilitation of their Edison Mine property in Ontario, Canada. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) identified the underground mine workings as a potential location for bat hibernacula.
	Future Proofing A Water Supply For A Growing Community To meet the increasing water supply demands of the Lower Mainland and respond to significant population growth south of the Fraser River, Metro Vancouver undertook a significant upgrade to its water supply infrastructure. This included a new water supply tunnel across the Fraser River as well as new connecting water mains on the north and south sides of the river, all of which Golder has been working on since 2005.
	Local Knowledge, Global Skills Help Give Melbourne Tunnel A Good Start Traffic on the western side of Melbourne, Australia has grown increasingly congested – due partly to numbers of vehicles on the West Gate Freeway which connects the city centre with the booming western suburbs, but also due to heavy traffic to and from the port precinct to the south. This has lengthened commutes and slowed freight travel in Melbourne. It has also impacted the local community as trucks cut through residential areas seeking a quicker passage to the west.
	Driving Sustainable Outcomes At A Logistics Park With Practical And Cost-Effective Solutions Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation (e.g. rail, ship and truck), without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damage and loss, and allows freight to be transported faster.
	Building A Beach In British Columbia The Hot Sands Beach is a popular attraction at a waterfront park in central Kelowna, an urban community of around 200,000 people in British Columbia, Canada. Erosion was limiting the community’s recreational use of the beach and the City of Kelowna had originally considered a concrete block wall design as a possible solution which would have resulted in the loss of the sandy beach as a public amenity, an outcome that would disadvantage the community. Golder was co-opted into this project while working on another assignment for the City and asked if we could come up with a better solution. We did. Golder’s solution was notable from a financial, public use, visual esthetics, ecological and sustainability perspective, maintaining the amenity of the beach for the community, and at a lower cost.
	Pile Founding Level Optimisation An innovative design approach for the foundation of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Passenger Clearance Building has resulted significant material savings and CO2 emission reduction. The boundary crossing facility is to be located on an artificial island of about 150 hectares reclaimed from the open waters off the northeast of the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). The Passenger Clearance Building is the largest among all the structures on the artificial island Golder was retained by the contractor joint venture to review the pile design.
	Residue Storage Design Delivers Environmental And Economic Benefits Golder has completed a detailed design for a bauxite residue storage facility for Emirates Global Aluminium’s new Al Taweelah alumina refinery. An initial feasibility design prepared by another consultant, included a compacted clay liner and large earth fill perimeter embankments, requiring a large quantity of imported materials – clay and water – for construction.
	Summitville Mine O&M Services Golder holds the prime contract for complete operations and maintenance of the Summitville Mine Superfund Site Water Treatment Plant. The treatment plant is operated with oversight by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) as part of the cleanup activities of the Summitville Mine Site. The WTP treats acid mine drainage from an abandoned mine site at seasonal flow rates up to 1,000 gallons per minute. The contaminants of concern include copper, aluminum, manganese, and zinc.
	Meeting The Needs Of Sweden’s First High Speed Railway Sweden’s first venture into high-speed rail, the East Link, is planned as a new double-track railway in the eastern part of Sweden. The East Link will be one part of a future high-speed railway running between Sweden’s metropolitan centers and the Scandinavian capital regions. A railway developed for high-speed is much straighter compared to a standard line and any curves must be extra wide in order to meet the full potential of a high-speed train. Therefore, 160 kilometers of new railway, 200 bridges and 20 kilometers of tunnels will be built within the East Link project to meet the needs of Sweden’s first high speed railway.
	Building A World-Class Landfill That Meets African Needs On the African continent, solid waste management tends to focus on disposal, with limited at-source sorting and recycling. Recycling is of an informal nature, with both individuals and whole families engaged in the hazardous occupation of picking through the waste to find metal, glass, paper and other materials to sell. The Rustenburg Local Municipality near Johannesburg, South Africa wanted to improve on this status quo by developing a solid waste facility that is both locally relevant while adhering to international best practices. For more than 15 years, Golder has been part of realizing that vision.
	Scenic Friday Harbour Resort Development Since 2008, Golder has been engaged with Geranium on its award-winning, iconic development of the Friday Harbour Resort, on beautiful Lake Simcoe in Innisfil, Ontario, Canada. The Friday Harbour Resort includes luxury condominiums, retail, as well as a marina with 1,200 boat slips connected to Lake Simcoe. As a trusted advisor, Geranium has relied on a multi-facetted team of Golder personnel, ranging from ground engineering, hydrogeological services and environmental expertise during permitting, to full time construction materials monitoring and testing, and full time on site Health and Safety advisors assisting the project on an ongoing basis, while realizing the first occupants in June of 2017.
	Geotechnical And Environmental Services For The TransAlaska Pipeline System Since 1989, Golder has completed more than 150 geotechnical and environmental projects along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). Our continuing involvement with TAPS extends the entire length of the pipeline, from the Valdez Marine Terminal to Prudhoe Bay, and includes projects requiring extensive knowledge of pipeline construction, facilities operation and maintenance, as well as a thorough understanding of the geotechnical aspects of frozen and unfrozen ground.
	Construction Of Low Permeability Cut-Off Wall For Residential Development Excavating saturated, loose soil can negatively impact nearby facilities when building underground parking or other below-surface structures. The River Green residential development in the municipality of Richmond, BC has ground conditions of coarse grained alluvial soils and high groundwater elevation, and is located immediately adjacent to the Richmond Olympic Oval, one of the most high profile buildings in the city and part of the legacy of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
	Waupisoo Pipeline The Waupisoo Pipeline project consists of a 400 km long crude oil pipeline and pump stations from Cheecham to Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. Enbridge Pipeline (Athabasca) Inc. received approval from the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board in 2007.
	Complex Road Infrastructure At Mining Site The development of the Amoma pit, the fourth and last pit in the Ahafo South permitted gold mining area in Ghana, presented numerous challenges, including no pre-existing roads leading in or out of this remote location. Extreme topography and adverse weather conditions required extensive research and engineering to address the issues related to logistics, water management, sedimentation control, and security.
	Site Investigation For The Final Disposal Of High Level Radioactive Wastes: The Boda Claystone Formation The Boda Claystone Formation is a potential target formation for the final disposal of high level waste and spent fuel from the Paks Nuclear Power Plant. In the frame of the extensive surface based investigation program Golder carried out several well testing and lead technical supervision. Based on these data Golder developed hydrogeological models, which provided input information for the deterministic and stochastic performance assessment models of the site.
	Pinelands Park Landfill McCullough’s Emerald Golf Links 18-hole course in Egg Harbor Township is described as a unique tribute to famed European courses such as St. Andrews. Water comes into play on five holes and McCullough’s offers the region’s only 100-foot elevation changes – providing players tremendous vistas of the course and countryside. However, as golfers travel from green to green or travel in carts over the winding paths, they are likely unaware that the rolling green hills was once the 100-acre Pinelands Park Landfill that received municipal solid waste from the 1950’s until its closure in 1992.
	Waste Facility Information System Providing a centrally managed information system for hundreds of waste management facilities across the United States. Develop, host, and maintain the web site, which allows Republic Services to manage compliance tasks, plan and manage project cost and schedules, approve and track purchases, evaluate alternative scenarios, and provide public information.
	Toronto Subway Moving Beyond City Border Main construction has begun on what is the first major expansion of the Toronto-York Subway system in almost a decade. The addition will expand service to Toronto’s York Region, which is experiencing residential growth and business development near the Vaughan Corporate Centre. The new route will also serve York University and its student enrollment of 60,000.
	Large-Scale Slope Depressurization Program A multi-year project to design, construct and operate/maintain a large-scale slope depressurization program at an open pit mine. Depressurize a clay layer located within the pit wall stratigraphy, thereby allowing the excavation of the overburden slopes to a stable geometry. The project will facilitate a considerable expansion of the mine, and extend the life of the mine by 10 to 15 years. GAIA Contractors, in collaboration with Golder Associates Ltd., provided a phased approach with groundwater extraction wells installed as pit benches are made available.

Source: https://www.golder.com/projects/

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Ground Engineering