None of them thought the movie a “anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-mining rant” (Financial Post, 5 March 2010) ! I’m not quite that vitriolic, although the “message” does build on an ingrained “anti-development” mind-set, and is not helpful.

That company was out-of-line (do you think ? ), and it was great to see them nasty dudes off the planet !  But Avatar is not an example of what happens in the world and no “lesson” about anything.  It is a fantasy movie and great entertainment.

The evolution of corporations from profit takers to community builders is ongoing, is not perfect and demands even greater effort.  The conflict over “development” exists throughout society and not just in the remote corners of the world.  There will always be concern about development, almost always accompanied by polarising fear, anger and ideology.

NZ is burdened by a crippling outflow of educated graduates, and many areas of the world remain mired in poverty without access to medical care, clean water, education or stable food supply. The world needs development and profits because the ugly truth is that they are necessary to improve society.

The “lesson” is to strengthen our institutions, strive to understand and respect for each other, engage and embrace both sides of the debate, and work for sustainable solutions to the problems and opportunities which face us.

The old “heads in the sand” approach didn’t work for the Na’vi and it didn’t work for the “company”.  Smart heads on both sides would have avoided bloodshed, grief and destruction.

The challenge is to do a lot better than that !

Engineering certification means that you will (most likely) be able to build on the fills you create, and the effort you put in will pay off. You will make a return on your investment and increase the value of what you do.

Filling without certification means that you will waste the effort you put in.  It will cost you money and you will be irrate with the geotechnical consultant who says they will not “sign off” on foundations built on the fill !  And none of us like that.

It’s all about risk. De-risk your job, get certifcation, increase the value of your work.

So, do yourself a favour. Either:

• do certify and make money out of your work, or
• don’t certify, don’t compact and accept that you will not be able build on the fill you create.

RDCL provides specialist earthworks advice and geotechnical testing services.

If you want a chat about your geotechnical testing needs, please call Richard Dee (021) 884 656 .  He’ll help you out.

Peter is a highly respected mining geologist with 18 years experience in operations, resource assessment and exploration.  He has held senior positions on projects in New Zealand, Australia and Africa,  His commodity experience includes gold, coal, iron channel iron deposits and nickel laterites. Peter is considered a Competent Person (JORC 2004) for the reporting of coal and gold resources.

Peter has spent most of his career in industry (as opposed to “dirty old consulting ) .  He fits our “boots on” approach to consulting and delivery of solutions to you the client.

Peter will be based in Wanaka, South Island as his home town.

We look forward to working with Peter and invite you to contact him pchurch@rdcl.co.nz, or 021 884 340

Gives us confidence and strength for battle.

We love it.

Thanks guys, do it again !

A collaborative approach to drill planning always adds value to the job and delivers opportunities to reduce risk in project development. Rigorous operational control, systematised data collection and defined data management procedures all help to control cost during the physical drilling, and in downstream processing.

The cost of drilling is in getting the contractor on site, and drilling the hole.  If you are drilling a water well, designing geotechnical program, or resource drilling we strongly encourage you to engage professional assistance to develop your drilling program.

RDCL staff have a high level of experience in technical drilling and downhole testing.  Drilling is a passion to us and we love the process (weird, eh !!). We operate our own CPT rig throughout the country, are certified to ISO09001:2000 for geotechnical testing,  and know what it take to do the job on the ground. Our expertise and services  include:

• Packer tests
• Groundwater testing
• Extensometers
• Piezometers
• Stress gauges
• Inclinometer monitoring
• Coal Seam Gas sampling
• Geological services
• Geotechnical services
• CPT testing
• Sesimic CPT testing
• Geophysical interpretation

We invite you to call us at any time to discuss your drilling work.

RDCL has been able to expand and grow over the last 2 years by focusing on the customer, working hard and diversifying the business.  Two (2) new Geotechnical Engineers have joined our team, and we are in the process of expanding our office footprint.  Richard and Eija both have the right attitude to fit our business and we are fortunate to attract such high quality talent.

We add Geotechnical Testing Services to the RDCL service offering with Richard Dee joining the team.  Richard is a Geotechnical Engineer with postgraduate studies in Environmental Engineering and specialist experience in geotechnical materials including soil, aggregates and geo-membranes, construction monitoring, and landfill testing. He has specialist experience in road, rail, landfill and construction projects.

Eija Hulkko is a Civil Engineer with specialist interest in Geotechnical engineering with a Master of Engineering (MEng) (First Class Honours) from University College London including an exchange year at the University of Melbourne. Eija has experience in foundation design and special interest in alternative landfill cover designs.  Eija boosts our capacity in the Bay and our ability to deliver our geotechnical projects.

Modern successful projects be they land development, dairy in the McKenzie Basin, windfarms or dare I say it, mines are built by embracing the driving principles of the day.  Social and environmental responsibility is as much a part of any project as technical viability.

And the reason is simple.  It’s about money.  No investor will risk their hard hoarded millions on a project doomed to fail through public opposition.  (Brown and Murray (2007) “Commitment, Compliance and Capacity – How Environmental, Safety, Security and Financial Issues Affect Lender’s Risk”. Proceedings “Project Evaluation Conference” Melbourne, June 2007).

RDCL does a lot of work in the Philippines and Asia.  In our opinion, social issues are the overwhelming cause of delay on projects in those areas.  And it’s the same in New Zealand.

The (use of) natural resource debate is about the challenge of bringing “the companies” and the community together for meaningful change, to utilise resources available to us and improve the lives of the current and future generation.

The laws, guidelines, intelligence and collective goodwill will bring about the right result

The Equator Principles require:

• Review and Categorisation – puts a project in the framework
• Social and Environmental Assessment – do them and show results
• Applicable Social and Environmental Standards – international
• Action Plan and Management System – commitment
• Consultation and Disclosure – demonstrate it
• Grievance Mechanism –part of management system
• Independent Review – show it
• Covenants – to comply, to provide, to decommission
• Independent Monitoring and Reporting – external
• Reporting – publicly at least annually

About “playing” to win:

“You have to be doing things to create value. You can’t think about acquisitions for a decade and then think you are going to get your next one right. Constantly doing things builds up the confidence in an organisation that they are capable of being players.

“Be willing to lose in that process as well, because if you don’t play you’ll never win, and losing is not such a bad thing.”

About (decentralized) management:

“The belief that we have is that if you create an environment where people free to act are not only burdened with responsibility but are given the wings of access to action … the right to make decisions, they will unlock untold value in the areas in which they operate,”

“We encourage risk taking. No-one has ever been penalised for making a mistake in our organisation. Provided they don’t make it too often!

About Thinking Big :

“I encourage people to think big, but in the running of the organisation to see small. That they must recognise that true value creation comes from incremental steps in the way they run the organisation. The majority of our value creation has come from a series of small incremental steps at each of the operations which over time amasses to great value.

Reported in HighGrade Magazine, 29 June 2009

We are seeking expressions of interest for the following positions:

• Geotechnical Engineer.  Based in Havelock North you will be suitably experienced to undertake geotechnical site investigations, provide geotechnical recommendations for foundation design, be experienced in siesmic assessments, be familiar with slope stabilisation methods and analyses, be prepared to occasionally travel to support mine development projects and importantly contribute to business development in Hawkes Bay and the close regions. We are interested in practical people with construction and contract experience.

• Graduate Geologist.  Based in Havelock North you will be a recent graduate in geology preferably with engineering geological skills.  Your role will be to support the wider team in field work and develop your evaluation skills.  You will undertake coal logging, geotechnical logging and engineering geological mapping.  You will be instructed in analytical and reporting.

For both positions we are looking for team oriented, practical people.  We are a very “hands on” business and have a strong development culture.  Due to our own constraints, you must have the ability to work in New Zealand to apply and for engineers should be able to eventually (if you are not already) to become a Chartered Engineer.

Please send your expressions of interest and CV to: info@rdcl.co.nz.