2010 will be the first 50th Anniversary of Golder Associates. This year we are sharing with you some information about a few noteworthy projects on which Golder has worked all over the world. In this issue of Technically Speaking we are featuring 11 innovative projects from the 1990s that demonstrate how our work has provided positive contributions in the fields of nuclear and solid waste disposal, rock mechanics and mineral and water resources development.

Golder was selected by the Government of Gibraltar to undertake a study of five rock slopes in January of 1997. One of the study areas included an area where a 30,000 t rock fall had occurred, consequently blocking the main west-side coastal road and affecting access to one of the main public beaches on the Rock. Starting in 1997 we carried out the detailed design and provided construction supervision/project management services for the construction phase of the stabilisation works. We have continued to provide support on rock slope stabilisation and rock fall protection works to the Government of Gibraltar on various projects since this time.

Based on our experience in North America, Golder introduced Construction Quality Assurance (CQA) for geosynthetic landfill lining systems to Europe in the early 1990s. We were responsible for the design, permitting and construction supervision of a portfolio of landfill sites for Hales Waste Control, including Attlebridge Landfill Site. We developed rigorous CQA procedures to ensure that the geosynthetic materials and mineral liner met the required specifications, were installed and constructed within the required tolerances, and provided a fully contained facility to the client.

1 Rock Slope Stabilisation, Camp Bay, Gibraltar 2 Attlebridge Landfill Site, UK 3 Aznalcollar Mine, Spain 4 Batu Hijau Mine, Indonesia 5 Aquifer Storage and Recovery System, Salem, Oregon, USA 6 Mariner’s Park Decommissioning and Demolition, San Diego, California, USA

7 Nuclear Waste Disposal, Bátaapáti, Hungary 8 Collahuasi Copper Mine, Chile 9 Clayoquot Sound Archaeological Inventory, British Columbia, Canada 10 Potential Nuclear Waste Repository, Sellafield, UK 11 Due Diligence for 71 Waste Facilities Accross the World

In April 1998, we assembled a team of engineers and scientists from our offices in the US, Canada and across Europe to help client Boliden-Apirsa respond to the tailings dam failure at the Aznalcollar zinc-lead-copper mine, situated roughly 40 km northwest of Seville, Spain. The east embankment of the tailings facility failed, releasing about 6 million cubic meters of tailings and acidic water into the Rio Agrio and the Rio Guadiamar river systems. We were hired to design and manage the decommissioning and closure of the failed tailings facility and prepare the conceptual design and environmental impact studies for an alternate tailings facility so that the mine could re-open. Boliden’s proactive role in the clean-up activities, combined with the success of the decommissioning of the failed impoundment and mine 1 redesign, enabled the mine to re-open just one year after the accident.

Beginning in the 1990s, we became involved in the development of the Batu Hijau copper-gold mine, located in the coastal mountains of southwest Sumbawa, Indonesia. Ore from the mine is transported to a concentrator via a 5.5 km overland conveyor. The concentrate is then transported to storage and port facilities by a 25 km access road which traverses steep mountainous terrain. The mine waste dumps, which ultimately will contain about 3.5 billion tonnes of soil and rock, are constructed in valleys close to the mine. The waste dump management facilities include a number of dams, water diversions and acid water treatment facilities. Our involvement in the initial mine development included geotechnical investigations, detailed geotechnical engineering design/ documentation and construction supervision for all phases of the project, from feasibility study through to construction and mine operations. At the peak of the construction we had roughly 30 engineers and 60 earthworks technicians helping from around the world. The project continues today, mining from a large open pit.

We helped develop the City of Salem Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) system between 1995 and 2001. This was the first ASR system permitted and developed in Oregon. The ASR system was developed in a fractured basalt aquifer underlying a residential neighborhood in south Salem. The system is able to provide the city with between 300 and 400 million gallons of water storage for peak summer use and also includes recharge and production wells with capacities up to 2,000 gpm. Following treatment, the aquifer is recharged with water from the North Santiam River.

Golder was prime contractor to decommission and demolish the Mariner’s Park facility, the former ITT Cable Hydrospace submarine cable manufacturing plant, on land leased from the Port of San Diego, California in March of 1997. The 300,000 sq. foot facility had a tilt-up concrete structure, with cranes, piping, tanks and material-handling equipment, while the surrounding site was contaminated with solvents, petroleum and metals. We employed a unique design/build approach involving coordination and innovation in the overlap of demolition activities and hazardous materials abatement. The final salvage and disposal of a 4-story, 1,100 foot long cable manufacturing building included disposal of 35,000 tons of concrete foundations and pilings. The fourmonth, $2.2 million USD construction project came in under budget and a month ahead of schedule.

When disposal of radioactive waste emerged in Hungary as a high priority issue, we were invited by the Hungarian Public Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (PURAM) to join the geological exploration program based on our amassed international references and experience. Since 1995, we have carried out two extensive geological exploration programs at the chosen site, near the village of Bátaapáti, in southwest Hungary. They included boreholes, trenches, and surface and borehole geophysical and hydrogeological measurements. A safety assessment was also conducted by Golder at the very beginning of the program. To do this work, our office in Budapest has been able to draw on expertise from other parts of the firm, as well as use state-of-the-art knowledge, equipment and software from 1995 to date.

The Collahuasi open-pit copper mine, located in the Andes Mountains in northern Chile, was the first major project for Golder in Chile. Beginning in 1994 and finishing in 1999, we conducted the initial tailings dam alternative site study, and later the basic and detailed engineering phases of the project, first through Davy International and later for Bechtel Corp. for Compañía Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi. The tailings dam is 5.3 km long and its final 100 m height will allow the embankment of approximately 1.8 billion tons of tailings. This project involved a Golder team from Canada, the USA, and South America.

In the mid-1990s, Golder secured a multi-year contract with the British Columbia Ministry of Forests to complete an archaeological inventory of Clayoquot Sound, located on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The study area encompassed over 265,000 hectares and is now designated as an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The three-year project included training and direct involvement of field assistants from several local First Nations. At project completion, 173 drainages or inland survey units had been examined and 713 km of shoreline were surveyed. During this survey, 446 new archaeological sites were recorded, 40 previously recorded archaeological sites were revisited and site records were updated for 25 sites. Of these sites, 332 were composed in part, or exclusively, of culturally modified trees (CMTs), representing 1,986 individual CMTs. This study stands among the largest archaeological inventory projects undertaken in British Columbia.

We were commissioned by Nirex in the early 1990s to work on the exploration and design of a potential deep repository for intermediate and low level nuclear waste located in Sellafield. Golder, in collaboration with other subcontractors, completed hundreds of specialist hydrogeological tests in boreholes down to depths of over 2 km. These testing programs commenced in late 1990 and lasted until 1995 and involved testing teams drawn from the UK, Sweden, Germany and the USA. In addition to the fieldwork programs, we were also commissioned to undertake a variety of innovative studies and analyses, including detailed fracture-flow analysis, and geochemical and reservoir modelling studies. The majority of the work at Sellafield took place between 1992 and 1997, but some still continues today. During this peak period a core of over 30 people formed a multidisciplinary team that worked on many projects.

At the end of the 80s Europe became a more appealing market for investments from North America. Our clients in the manufacturing and waste sectors started creating a “global demand for services” that were unknown until then. In the early 90s we were retained by Waste Management, Inc. (WMI) to conduct due diligence regulatory compliance audits and operational reviews of 71 facilities (landfills, solid waste incinerators and treatment facilities) in more than 10 countries across Europe, South America and Australasia. This project was in support of WMI making an initial public stock offering of a separate, international (non-North American) company on the European and U.S. stock exchanges. The worldwide team included personnel from the USA, Italy, Sweden, Germany, England, and Australia. By the end of the project over 50 Golder people had been involved, establishing standards and good experience for years to come.