Construction World April 2019

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

THREE DECADES OF DRILLING EXPERIENCE IN AFRICA

From the day in 1989 when Dave Rossiter bought out his two partners in Ground Mechanics and changed the company’s name to Geomechanics, he has manoeuvred the company for growth. Geomechanics’ first job entailed geotechnical investigations for the N2 at the Amatikulu Bridge.

T his one project for SANRAL became two, then three and his only permanent employee at the time, Barry Kruger, had done the geotechnical investigations for the whole length of the N2 from Amatikulu to Richards Bay. As the job progressed it required doubling of the workforce and the number of drilling rigs. In the next 30 years of steady growth, Rossiter has never lost sight of the fact that his company originally grew because he was able to deliver good quality services, on time. The resultant trust from his clients is the basis for the company’s success and longevity. Thirty years down the line, the company has branches in Johannesburg, Durban, East London, Cape Town and Uganda and plans to open further branches as far afield as the United Arab Emirates. As core clients required more varied services, Geomechanics diversified to

deliver those services and now the company operates as many as 50 drill rigs throughout Southern Africa. Geomechanics is now able to offer rotary core drilling, percussion drilling, mud rotary drilling, reverse circulation drilling, sonic drilling, CPTU testing, Menhard pressure meter testing and a host of other related tests and services. When geotechnical projects became harder to find in the 2000s, Geomechanics expanded its portfolio of services to include exploration drilling and also expanded beyond the borders of South Africa with projects in Namibia, Tanzania, Angola, Madagascar, and more recently Sweden. In 2013, the company added soil and rock movement monitoring and measurement services with the acquisition of Terra Monitoring. The company’s head office, main workshops and stores are located at a facility of over 5 000 m 2 near Lanseria

International Airport in Gauteng, 2 500 m 2 of which is dedicated to manufacture and maintenance of machinery. Over the years Geomechanics has developed a vast array of experience working in the African environment. Often as geotechnical or exploration contractors, it is the first contractors to arrive at a new site where there is nothing but bush. It prides itself on its logistical skills when operating in remote locations. The remote locations it often operates in, have also necessitated the use of some serious equipment over the years. Geomechanics owns a big fleet of 27 trucks, 13 people carriers and 27 bakkies that it uses to move its people and drilling equipment around the continent. The Geomechanics crews are well experienced in working with helicopters. Geomechanics is equipped with three barges of various sizes and with jack up capability.

TWO GEOMECHANICS PROJECTS SHOW ITS CAPABILITIES

SECURING THE SAFETY OF LAKESIDE TOWERS DEVELOPMENT The New Exxaro’s Lakeside Towers Office Development was developed over a dolomite rock formation. The dolomite formation is renowned for developing sinkholes and this poses a potential risk to the safety of structures built upon them and hence the people within those structures. Terra Monitoring and Geomech Africa, both Geogroup companies, were contracted to install three

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD APRIL 2019