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The Dominican Republic is enjoying a period ofinvestment in infrastructure and mining activities.

Executive director Alejandro Gil tells Martin Ashcroft how Geocivil is growing along with it

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The Dominican Republic isattracting a great deal of attentionat the moment, not least for thegold discoveries made by variousmining operations, including

Barrick Gold’s Pueblo Viejo.Enterprises like these need experienced,

reliable contractors, and Geocivil is a localsupplier that ts that mould. The company was formed in 1969, but its executives had been in business as part of a consultingrm since 1954, so the length of experiencespeaks for itself.

Mining is a relatively recent interest forGeocivil, however, as executive director Alejandro Gil explains. “Our main customersare large construction companies: westarted working in large dam projects—wehave done the geotechnical exploration forpractically all the 20-plus largest dams inour country. We have also worked in most ofthe larger construction projects like bridges,sea ports and thermoelectric plants, amongother things. In the last 20 years we startedgetting more involved in core drilling formining as these projects became of greaterinterest for the Dominican economy.”

With mining companies like Barrick Gold,

Perilya Ltd, Xstrata Nickel-Falconbridgeand Everton Resources among its clientele,Geocivil now has a broad range of capabilitiesand equipment in this area.

“We offer everything from geotechnicalcore drilling and in-situ testing to groundimprovement, deep mine core drilling(over 1,000 meters deep) to near-shore/ over-water borings for marine projects, toenvironmental drilling and well installation,

civil ofce building

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“WE HAVE WORKED IN MOST OF THE LARGERCONSTRUCTION PROJECTS LIKE BRIDGES, SEAPORTS AND THERMOELECTRIC PLANTS, AMONG

OTHER THINGS”

ways focusing on quality of recovery anduracy of sampling and reporting,” hes.On the construction side, Geocivil worked with major names includingnstructora Norberto Odebrecht,nstructora Andrade-Gutierrez, ICA-or, CBI-Chicago Bridge & Iron Works,uygues Offshore, CH2M Hill, Agroman

d Dragados, among others.One of the jobs he is most proud of, heys, was for an important natural gaswer plant on the south coast of theminican Republic. “We worked on it forer two years, rst in several consecutiveotechnical exploration campaigns ingin terrain, and later performed extensived thorough ground remediation work inkarstic coral limestone formation in aord time, involving over 11,000 metersdrilling for grouting, over 14,000 cubicters of cement grout to ll caverns/voids,in about six months of very intensiverk with over 150 people on site.”Another example of Geocivil’s expertise isurrent mineral exploration project for anernational metal mining company. “Weve to core-drill down to 500 meters in

active mine with blastings nearby everyy, which alter the already very broken and

abrasive formation, and we have kept a verygood record of recovery, production andminimal loss of equipment, all with a zeroaccident record. We have already completedabout 20,000 meters of core-drilling andhave a similar quantity ahead to completein the rst half of 2012.”

Another mining project, started last

year, involves deep mineral exploration.“This is where we set our record depth of

1,085 meters in HQ and NQ,” says Gil. “It’sthe deepest core-drilling ever done in ourcountry, and we also drilled several otherdrill holes between 500 and 800 meters.”This was achieved in cooperation withHeath & Sherwood drillers, he explains,using a Maxidrill 18 rig. “By the way, theprevious record was also ours, set back

in 1987 at 550 meters in HQ-NQ with aLongyear 38.”Demonstrating Geocivil’s diversity is

an intensive geotechnical remediation jobfor the construction of a multinationaltelephone company’s main ofce building,he continues. “We had to execute over 1,200micropiles of 200mm in diameter and 12meters deep for the foundations, all in justa little over 10 weeks—which we did.”

Geocivil trains its own personnel

Geocivil holds the Dominicanrecord for drilling depth

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“WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO USE OUREXPERIENCE TO PARTICIPATE IN LARGER

PROJECTS, AND THERE HAVE BEEN MORE OFTHOSE IN RECENT YEARS”

The subject of telephone companies bringsto yet another technical capability—wellctrical grounding. “During the early yearsen work was scarce, telephone companieseded good and effective groundingtems that required only small surfaceas, so drilling a well to the ground-waterel and connecting that water level to theface with a copper conductor resulted inexcellent solution for our customers. We

have been using this type of deep grounding well for over 40 years now, origina lly fortransmission towers and lately for cellularphone system antennas.”

So, the work is varied, and dependingon the size of the project, Geocivil mighthave six to eight small projects on the go atany time, or might alternatively be workingon maybe two or three larger ones. “Wehave managed single projects worth over

$5 million,” says Gil, “while many of oursmaller projects are worth less than $100,000.”

The company’s challenges include itslocation on a relatively small island, wheredrilling materials all have to be imported, which takes time and adds transportation cost. As a result, says Gil, Geocivil has to keep a largeinventory of materials and spares, as well as a

large metal-mechanical work shop with over15 pieces of machinery, along with operators,for equipment rebuilding, maintenance andurgent spare parts production/repair. “Also,due to the low level of academic education inour country, and specically due to the lackof good technical formation schools, we have been obliged to train our own personnel fromthe ground up.”

Geocivil’s main competitive advantage,

Gil believes, is the condence it offersclients through its quality of service. “If weare contracted the job will be done withgood quality—period. Of course this hasa cost, but most customers know that youget what you pay for, and when you aredoing a delicate evaluation you have to do itproperly. Usually all our projects are under

direct professional supervision all the time.”Customer service improvements have been made in recent years, he adds, suchas the provision of ancillary equipment andservices in drilling operations, including barge/jack-up platforms, small dozers,cranes, concrete mixers and pumping units.“In this way we can provide the full service without having to engage any externalcontractors/subcontractors, so we give our

Geocivil has 12 track mounted drills

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customers a better guarantee of executionfor their projects.” There is also a subsidiarycompany which handles all transportationrequirements, with over 35 units comprisingSUVs, pickups, buses, trucks and trailers.

From a safety point of view, Geocivil hasits own health, safety and environmentplan but it is customary in the industryto follow the customer’s requirementsfor each contract. “We have a very cleanHSE scorecard,” says Gil, “being usuallyamong the best of the pack in most of theprojects where we work. This includesregular training to a ll personnel as well asa ve minute planning meeting every dayto focus each team on the day’s work, riskassessment for every irregular situation,adequate equipment to contain/control anyincidental situation (spills, res, etc.) and allpertinent PPE for any given work.”

The last 10 years have seen the company’sstrongest growth, in line with thedevelopment of the country’s infrastructureand increasing mining activity. “Wehave been able to use our experience toparticipate in larger projects,” says Gil, “andthere have been more of those in recentyears. Right now the mining industry is

taking the lead, but in recent years we’vealso seen alternating opportunities ininfrastructure construction and large civil works and we expect more development inthe near future.”

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For more information aboutGeocivil visit:www.geocivil.net



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