August 2022 sinkhole near Alcaparrosa copper mine in Chile
Geologic Hazards

Huge Sinkhole in Atacama Desert

A sinkhole approximately 32 meters in diameter and roughly 200 meters deep opened up in the Atacama Desert of Chile, near the Alcaparrosa copper mine at the beginning of August 2022. Anytime something like this […]

No Picture
Press Releases

Layne Christensen Company Acquires Bencor Corporation of America

MISSION WOODS, Kan., Nov. 17, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Layne Christensen Company ("Layne") (Nasdaq:LAYN) today announced the acquisition of Bencor Corporation of America – Foundation Specialist ("Bencor"). Founded in 1969, Bencor is one of North America’s leading contractors in foundation and underground engineering. Bencor specializes in deep foundations for dams, levees, shafts and below ground structures and also excels in the design and building of earth support retention systems for basement excavation for high-rise structures, subway lines and stations and depressed highways. Bencor has performed work in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe and North Africa and has over 100 permanent employees headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The purchase price for the stock of Bencor was $32.1 million. Management projects first year revenues and earnings per share of approximately $50 million and $0.20-$0.25 per share, respectively, after purchase accounting adjustments.

[Editor] Click through for the rest of the press release. [/Editor] […]

Drilling Rock Star, Jeff Hart
Project Related

The Drillers, Rigs, Rock and Hart of the Chile Mine Rescue

Drilling Rock Star, Jeff Hart As 33 trapped miners waited more than 2,000-ft underground for their rescue, a whole team of Chilean government officials, mining engineers, equipment manufacturers and of course drillers came together get the job done.  Jeff Hart, a driller from Denver, Colorado was one of the stars of the day.  Hart was in Afghanistan drilling deep water wells when he got the call and hopped on a plane.  He works for Kansas-based Layne Christensen, and along with 3 other Layne employees, he manned the Schramm T130 drill rig that was part of “Plan B” that eventually became the shaft from which the trapped miners were rescued.

matt_sttafell_jorge_herreraOn the drilling platform overseeing the drilling was James Stefanic of Layne, and crew members Matt Staffel, Doug Reeves and Jorge Herrera.  The rig and I presume some of the support equipment was owned by Layne’s Latin America affiliate, Geotec Boyles Bros, SA.  The drill bits were from Center Rock, Inc. of Berlin, Pennsylvania.  The Center Rock CEO, Brandon Fisher, was on site throughout the operation as well.

Read on for more info, photos, video and links on the drilling, drillers and geology of the Chile Mine rescue.

[…]

No Picture
Press Releases

Layne Christensen Drillers Reach Trapped Miners in Chile

MISSION WOODS, Kan., Oct. 10, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — “Plan B” worked. Winning the three-way race to reach the 33 miners trapped in Chile since Aug. 5, drillers from Kansas City-based Layne Christensen Co. broke through at 8 a.m. Saturday.

[Editor] Click through for the rest of the press release. [/Editor] […]

No Picture
Geologic Hazards

Chile Earthquake Links – March 1, 2010

A few interesting links related to the Chile Earthquake. Over the next days and weeks, I will try to highlight interesting news and blog posts related to this event. Chile Earthquake: Soft ground bites the […]

Chile Earthquake 2010 - Destroyed appartment building
Geologic Hazards

Chile Earthquake 2010 – Magnitude 8.8

A magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Chile on Saturday, centered about 200 miles southwest of the capital, Santiago and 70 miles north-northeast of Concepcion, one of the worst hit areas. According to the USGS event page, […]

Geologic Hazards

Chaiten Volcano, Chile

Since Friday May 2, the Chaiten Volcano in Chile has been erupting steam and ash in a most spectacular fashion for the first time since 7400 BC. The column of ash and steam rose over 17 km high and drifted over the Andes Mountains into Argentina and over the Atlantic. The terrestrial and aerial/satelite imagery of this event is amazing and frightening. Geology.com has an excellent page covering the latest info on the Chaiten  eruption.

There is concern now that the energy of the volcano has leveled off and a collapse of the ash column could happen at any time creating a pyroclastic flow of super-heated ash and vapors much like the one that buried Pompei. The photo at the left is of a lightning storm interacting with the dust and steam from the erruption, it looks like armageddon! (Photo by Carlos Gutierrez / UPV / Landov)

[…]