Mining

The 25th International Conference on Solid Waste Technology and Management 14-17 March 2010 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The agenda has been announced and includes 160 presentations from 40 countries. Field trips are also involved in this international gathering. Learn more at the event website. Learn more here.;

Combining the efforts of two industry leaders in remediation technologies promises to provide increased value to the environmental remediation industry. Tensar International Corporation (TIC) announced today that it has signed an agreement with CETCO Remediation Technologies (CETCO) granting exclusive distribution rights to the Triton® Marine Mattress System in the United States and Canada for subaqueous capping of contaminated sediments.

Two key mines in Murray Energy's coal mining operations produce up to 16 million tons each year in Ohio. The company must now find an updated way to store the slurry waste from operations, or it may need to shutter its business. State officials do not want to see the roughly 1000 miners put out of work. Though the company was rejected in 2008 in its waste site application, the new application may go through. It contains a geomembrane-lined slurry reservoir. Learn more here.;

Decisions need to be made soon regarding the Pumpback Well System (PWS) Evaluation Project now underway at the Anaconda Mine cleanup site in Yerington, Nevada. The EPA-approved a one-year shutdown of the PWS in March 2009. The site uses three evaporation ponds: a 3.5-million-gallon clay-lined pond; a 5-million-gallon HDPE-lined pond; and a 10-million-gallon HDPE-lined pond. Learn more here.;

Ignorance about the details of a key standard for ground engineering could lead to on-site disputes when it becomes effective in April 2010, NCE reports. A lack of training among smaller consultants and a general lack of awareness of the details of Eurocode 7 (EC7) and supporting documents such as execution standards are behind the fears. Learn more here.;

Huesker inc., a leading manufacturer and global supplier of geogrids, geotextiles and specialty geocomposites, has updated its website. The revised website features comprehensive information on Huesker's full product line with an option to view specifics offered from key global offices, such as Germany, the United States, Brazil, Spain, and more. Also of note are significant download resources, including product properties, application photos, installation guidelines, publications and case studies. Whether you’re looking for information regarding geosynthetics in green roofs, roads and railways, landfills, canals, or many other applications, Huesker’s new website is an information-packed resource that's worth a visit. Learn more here.;

The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) Peru Chapter will hold a Peruvian national congress on geosynthetics. Geosperu 2010 is the second national conference on geosynthetics in Peru. The event will include lectures, discussions, short courses and a keynote lecture from Dr. J.P. Giroud. The majority of the event will be in Spanish. Learn more here.;

Native American reservations have been sites of great extremes--extreme poverty juxtaposed with highly successful casinos; great opportunities for utilizing natural resources for wealth juxtaposed with what is too-often considerable pollution and an inability to fully remediate sites. One reservation is turning to solar power as a source for a new tribal economy. It's an impressive scheme, and it just may be an inspiration for more green designs, such as the use of exposed geomembrane caps with thin-film photovoltaics embedded in the surface. Learn more here.;

The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) is holding its first-ever photo competition. Members should keep an eye on the deadline date: 1 February 2010. This initiative comes just ahead of the planned April 2010 launch of the redesigned IGS website and May 2010's major, quadrennial IGS conference: 9ICG. The 9th International Conference on Geosynthetics will be held 23-27 May 2010 in Guaruja, Brazil (near São Paulo).

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson shares her memo to the agency regarding her first year at the helm and the now-expanded list of priorities for going forward.

ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has revised Standard D6243, "Standard Test Method for Determining the Internal and Interface Shear Resistance of Geosynthetic Clay Liner by the Direct Shear Method," to D6243-09. The procedure described in this test method for the shear resistance for the GCL or the GCL interface is intended as a performance test to provide the user with a set of design values for the test conditions examined. Learn more here.;

Contributed by the Research Council of Norway: Synthetic bags filled with sand was the solution that French and Norwegian partners came up with when they cooperated on a project to find new environment-friendly building materials that can withstand ice erosion and corrosion. The bags will be used as building blocks to protect roads and infrastructure in Arctic areas. The main Norwegian partner in the recently concluded three-year project was the independent research organisation SINTEF. The project was initiated by its French partner, the company TenCate Geosynthetics France S.A.S.

An engineering class at an all-girls school in Bethesda, Md., is designed to make the male-dominated field more appealing to female students. "It's about taking risks and getting them over the anxiety of always having to be right all the time," said physics teacher Chris Lee. Class projects include building robots and researching bridge disasters. Learn more here.;

AMCOL International Corporation has announced that the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has awarded their new headquarters building, located in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) NC Silver certification. The building is located in the Prairie Stone Business Park which is a unique blend of technology and tranquility with native prairie surroundings. CETCO is part of AMCOL. Read more in the release.

Steel transmission pipelines going through mountain areas often face significant risks during their construction and service life. One of the biggest challenges is to protect the pipe and its external coatings against mechanical damage from impact and penetration. Vlad Popovici, writing in Pipelines International, looks at how pipes are protected, including through the use of nonwoven geotextiles. Learn more here.;

A reminder that short abstracts of up to 400 words are due by 16 January 2010 for GeoCalgary 2010, which is co-hosted by the Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS). All abstracts and papers must be submitted electronically using the easy-to-use Online Abstract Submission feature on the GEO2010 web site: www.geo2010.ca. Corresponding authors will be notified regarding abstract acceptance by 26 February 2010. All technical papers must be submitted by 3 May 2010, accompanied by one full delegate registration. Learn more here.;

The Canadian Young Geotechnical Engineers and Geoscientists Conference is a national specialty conference held every three years and aims to create a relaxed environment where young members of the geoengineering and geoscience communities are provided a great opportunity to share technical knowledge and exchange career experiences. The 3rd cYGEGC will be held 16-18 September 2010 in Waterton Lakes National Park, Calgary. Abstracts of no more than 400 words should be submitted in English or French to the Technical Chairs, Matthew Perras and Maureen White, by 1 February 2010. Learn more here.;

CETCO announces that Richard B. Erickson has been appointed the position of Technical Sales Manager for CETCO - Lining Technologies Group. Richard is located in California and will be responsible for the West Coast regional sales, reporting to Timothy J. Rafter, National Sales Manager. Effective 4 January 2010, Richard can be reached at richard.erickson@cetco.com.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has taken a significant step in an effort to help reduce the need for federal taxpayers to fund the cleanup of environmental releases. The agency has identified three additional industry sectors for which it will begin the regulatory development process for any necessary financial assurance requirements: the chemical manufacturing industry; the petroleum and coal products manufacturing industry, which primarily includes refineries and not coal mines; and the electric power generation, transmission, and distribution industry.

Following heavy rains in May, water from a storage pond at the North Mara gold mine seeped through the walls of a storage pond. Barrick Gold, owners of the facility, have had to deal with multiple acts of theft and vandalism at the site, including sections of liner (in use!) being stolen. Some locals maintain the mine has caused the death of fish, crops and animals. Up to 1000 cattle have been said to have died--but no evidence has been offered in support of the allegations. It's a difficult situation, to say the least. Learn more here.;

The International Symposium on Geotechnical Engineering, Ground Improvement, and Geosynthetics for Sustainable Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change including Global Warming was successfully held 3-4 December 2009 Bangkok, Thailand. The event included 150 speakers, more than 400 pages of proceedings, and attendees and exhibitors from around the world. Dennes Bergado, the conference chair and president of IGS Thailand, has authored a short write up.

Current Past President D. Wayne Klotz, P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE, the 2009 ASCE President, shares his thoughts about his year in office and what the future holds in a new Q&A with the American Academy of Water Resource Engineers. Klotz talks about the current state of civil engineering, advice for other engineers, some of the memorable moments he experienced, and what he enjoys doing for fun. Read the Wayne Klotz interview at the AAWRE site. Learn more here.;

Lee Allison, the state geologist for Arizona, keeps a blog to update the public on geological issues (including geotechnical engineering). His 24 December 2009 issue addresses fissure mapping and management--including a double liner system used as an ash storage facility in a fissure-affected region. Learn more here.;

ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has published a work item, WK26895 "Revision of D5261-92(2009) Standard Test Method for Measuring Mass per Unit Area of Geotextiles." Learn more here.;

ASTM Committee D35 has published a work item revision to WK26896, "Revision of D5141-09 Standard Test Method for Determining Filtering Efficiency and Flow Rate of the Filtration Component of a Sediment Retention Device Using Site-Specific Soil." Learn more here.;