This is the first in a series of international dispatches from civil engineers in the North West who have worked, volunteered or travelled outside the UK. Andy Belton comments on his experience with the design and construction quality assurance (CQA) of a lined settlement pond for Edikan Gold Mine in Ghana, West Africa.
Ghanaian Gold Mine
Andy Belton graduated from Leeds University with a BEng in Civil Engineering and has worked continuously for Coffey Geotechnics in Manchester since 2002. He was sponsored by Coffey to study an MSc in Environmental Engineering and Project Management in 2008 which he completed on a part-time basis alongside work. He has developed specialist skills in geosynthetics, especially in waste management and mining applications. His recent projects have been in Australia, Mongolia and West Africa as well as the UK. He plans
to submit for Chartered Professional Review with the ICE later this year.
1) How did you find yourself working in Ghana?
Our mining engineering colleagues had undertaken feasibility and design services for Edikan Gold Mine, a major gold mine in Ghana. They requested our assistance with the liner system design for a concentrated tailings (mine waste) settlement pond on site. We designed the geosynthetic aspects in the Manchester office and I later provided on-site construction supervision and quality assurance on behalf of Coffey Geotechnics.
2) What was the project?
The aspect of the project that I was involved with was a triple (geosynthetic) lined settlement pond for arsenic contaminated tailings. The pond area is 150,000m2 and is designed to hold 1.5M tonnes of tailings over 10 years.
3) How long did the project take and how long did you stay in Ghana?
Construction took 13 weeks, I was in Ghana for almost 4 months including set up and preparation works. I left site a couple of weeks before completion and one of my colleagues came out to replace me.
4) How was the experience?
I had visited Africa a few times but never been able to engulf myself in the local culture. I found the experience fascinating and it challenged my whole outlook on life. The project altered how I approach technical problems and introduced me to some new methods and work practices.
5) How did you find the civil engineering practice in Ghana compared with the UK?
As our client was western, the construction and health and safety standards on site were broadly comparable to that in the UK. I think that in many cases the standard of construction across Africa is fast approaching that prevailing in the ‘developed world’. Some construction methods were, however, very different. As an example, and reflecting the low cost of local labour, the contractor used as many labourers from the local villages as possible, often in preference to machinery, such as long convoys of villagers using head baskets being employed to move and place sand protection material onto the membrane rather than the ‘more traditional approach’ in the UK of using dump trucks.
6) What was the main challenge with working in Ghana?
The main challenge was to get the different groups of contractors working as one team. It was quite common to see prayer meetings on site before works started which helped bring the different cultures and nationalities together. It was sometimes challenging to get the local labour to understand what they were doing and the reason behind it. Once we got through this barrier things seemed to go much more efficiently.
7) Was communication between the personnel working on site a problem (noting different nationalities were working on site); how did different workers from different working backgrounds get on working together (any challenges)?
Communication with the Ghanaians on site was quite easy in the end. Coffey employs Ghanaian graduates who speak very good English and could also communicate to the locals very well. There were difficulties between some of the foreign subcontractors who did not have a good English speaking Ghanaian in their team and the local employees. Even with the language issues, the main challenge was to get local personnel to understand the technical aspects of the design they were constructing and the reasons why we were installing a membrane solution so that they could appreciate the need to avoid damaging the liner.
8) Would you recommend taking such opportunities to the ICE graduates?
Absolutely! Working in remote foreign settings are fantastic opportunities to grow your knowledge and skills. I feel that you learn a tremendous amount when you are on site. Working overseas, particularly in a country like Ghana, challenges you personally as well as technically, not least in that you carry a much greater level of responsibility than normal. I very much enjoyed the experience and feel I am a better engineer following this project. I would recommend it to anyone.
Photo captions (top to bottom):
Andy Belton – Graduate member of the ICE and Senior Engineer at Coffey Geotechnics, Manchester
Dunkwa, Ghana (a general view)
Preparation of the Tailings Pond for Lining with Geosynthetics
Contractors constructing the lining system
Extrusion welding of geomembrane – tailings pond of Edikan Gold Mine, Ghana
Lining system of tailings pond
Photo credits: Andy Belton