Geotechnical Investigations

In the past six months, our teams have been extremely busy. Not only with projects in South Africa but also throughout the continent. Our teams have been deployed to sites in Zambia, Namibia, Malawi and Uganda to mention a few. But before any project can begin, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes preparation work that needs to happen. TRAININGBefore we deploy to any site, we a ...

Welcome to this edition of the GeoGroup newsletter. Much of this year has been dedicated to the various projects in South Africa, and across our borders that we were able to complete successfully. In this feature, we focus on the teams behind the scenes who go the extra mile to help make every project a successful one. In this issue, we look at: • Across Borders - Getting ou ...

Concerns about the stability of a tailings dam require specialized testing and analysis in order to gather sufficient data. This was a task well suited for the Geomech Africa Team. In 2020, a client required the services of the GeoGroup to conduct Cone Penetration Tests (CPTu) and field Vane Shear Testing (VST) at a site in Mpumalanga. The project required the team to conduct ...

Welcome to the July edition of the GeoGroup Newsletter. Over the last few days, South Africans all across the country have felt the brunt of the current political unrest, the impact of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it is affecting the economy. At the GeoGroup we are running at maximum capacity to ensure that all our projects are running safely and according ...

On the 27th of February 2021, the Geomech Africa and Terra Monitoring teams commenced work together for a 5-week project where they needed to conduct rotary core drilling (using a YWE-D90) at 6 locations for the installation of Piezometers at discard facilities in Mpumalanga, South Africa.It was the mandate of the project that the Geomech Africa team were to drill the holes whi ...

June 2021 Newsletter Welcome to the June edition of the GeoGroup Newsletter. As we are approaching the 2021 mid-point, it seems that this year is one of those that just flies by. With many projects underway and more to come, we had to recruit more than 15 new staff members in order to meet the demand within the drilling sector. It's a great honour for us to be in a position wh ...

”Probing” into CPTu TestingNorth West Province, South AfricaWHAT IS CPTu TESTING?A cone penetration test with pore water pressure measurement, or CPTu, is a static penetration test with water/pore pressure measurement. While advancing the calibrated probe at a constant advancement rate, the probe records the resistance at the tip (qc), the dynamic pore water pressure (u2) and t ...

Recently, the GeoGroup workshop technicians took on the daunting task of refurbishing a retired XY-44 drill rig. Under the leadership of the Workshop Director, Brett Rossiter, the team decided to do an intensive refurbishment on this rig to get it up and running to meet the demand of projects the group had received in the past few months.Often it isn't financially viable to pur ...

May 2021 Newsletter Welcome to the May edition of the GeoGroup Newsletter. Drilling has always been at the core of the GeoGroup since its establishment in 1989 by the late founder and CEO, Dave Rossiter. We have continued to grow and evolve over the years with new vehicles and rigs regularly being added to our growing fleet. We are thankful for the years of experience we have ...

This long-overdue project, to raise a dam wall in South Africa, finally got underway in late 2019. The project involves the raising of the existing dam wall by building a new wall against the existing wall built in 1935 and extending the height of the wall by 13m. By raising the dam wall, it will increase the capacity of the dam to almost double. Allowing for more irrigation in ...