+44 (0)1428 661 660
+64 (0)3443 5326
+ 34 935 900 007
+44 (0)1428 661 660
+64 (0)3443 5326
+ 34 935 900 007
For current news, case studies and comment please visit our Blog where information is updated daily with all that's new with Van Walt and our customers.
Van Walt - In the jungle … in the Sundarbans, India“It was hard, challenging, hot, humid, mosquito infested work but I can’t wait to go back,” sums up Vincent’s recent trip to the Sundarbans with two professors, a senior human geographer and a PhD student from Queens University Belfast.
Little is known of the Sunderbans which is why Professors Julian Orford and Keith Bennett, Dr Satish Kumar and Rory Flood, PhD student are extracting sediment profiles, using a Van Walt sediment core sampler, to help establish the history and reason behind the existence and development of these islands and the mangrove delta - “Recent sedimentation processes, patterns and chronology of the west Bengal Sundarbans”.
Prospecting for gold with Loncor in the DRCThe Van Walt Window Sampling System is proving increasing valuable to the mining exploration sector as it is lightweight and very mobile for inaccessible locations; it delivers virtually undisturbed samples for horizon evaluations; is low maintenance and highly reliable and excellent value, so it comes as no surprise that we have sold more sets to Loncor, based in the Congo.
On-site in Wales with Pico and Manchester Metropolitan UniversityDr Simon Caporn and Dr James Rowson, of Manchester Metropolitan University’s Department of the Environment & Geographical Sciences are researching the threats to peatlands by climate change and nitrogen pollution on a site in Whixall, Shropshire.
They are investigating the impact of peat cutting, drainage, and land conversion as well as the threat of ‘unseen’ changes in precipitation, temperature and nutrients on the health of peatlands. The project is funded by the European Research Association BiodivERsA programme and will run from spring 2009 through to the end of 2012.
Environmental monitoring at SellafieldRecently Vincent and Ikky were on site, well nearly, with the Sampling & Environmental Team at Sellafield. Due to security the training had to take place just outside of the site in the car park. And, in true Cumbrian fashion the weather was bad – cold and wet – not ideal conditions to train the team on their Percussion Drilling Set.
It wasn’t just the weather that was against the Van Walt team. Sellafield had purchased their Percussion Drilling Set earlier in the year, had received training and already used the kit to take samples on the site. Unfortunately they had experienced some problems using the equipment and Vincent and Ikky were on site to try to sort these and to deliver further training to other members of the team.
Mineral exploration in Wales – with our new Deep Well Bladder PumpWhere better to try out one of our latest pumps – South Wales, prospecting for coal! Tom was recently onsite at a colliery with Jeremy Dearlove of FWS Consultants Ltd who are undertaking research to establish the feasibility of open mine coal extraction. As a result some of the site investigations require the pumping of water from very deep levels.
As soon as we started putting together the equipment spec for this job we knew that whatever we supplied that it would be a real test of its capabilities. In the end we put together a dedicated pump system incorporating our new Deep Well Bladder Pump which soon proved it was up for the challenge. It pumped from an impressive 170 metres in a 2 inch diameter well.
British BBQ weather in Hull!Conditions were very wet when Vincent and Yvonne visited Dawn Keim, Marie Curie Research Fellow at Leeds University, who is working on site in Hull on a project to measure groundwater vulnerability in unconfined fractured rock aquifers.
Dawn is using our Percussion Drilling System and we were on site to give her valuable help and training in using this equipment in what proved to be exceptionally wet conditions! All things considered we were able to collect samples which Dawn is assessing as part of her thesis.
In the mud at GlastonburyTake an ancient archaeological site, which is partially submerged, a group of researchers and put them in Glastonbury and - you guessed it – the result - lots of mud!
Researcher, Louise Jones, MSc Geoarchaeology student and Professor Martin Bell, from the school of human and environmental sciences, University of Reading are working on a project with English Heritage to establish what impact the soil conditions are having on the long term sustainability of this prehistoric site.
SLR Consulting make use of TDR technologyOn site with Ian Panter, Yorkshire Archeological Trust and Mark Swain of SLR Consulting at a wind farm in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire to check the on-going soil conditions.
The site contains the highest on-shore turbines in England which will provide up to 60 per cent of the annual electrical power required to operate the McCain Chip plant and, when the site is not operating, unused electricity will be put into the National Grid.
On site with Network Rail Jonathan was recently onsite installing and training Network Rail on their new e-WATER L data logger and alarm to monitor water levels in culverts beside mainline railway tracks in Warwickshire. The system included an early warning alarm function, so if drainage water rises to a level that might cause a flood to the surrounding area, local maintenance teams can be dispatched to clear any blockages and avert potential disruptions to the adjacent rail network.
Where will you find us next – up the Congo? Well 'yes', or more accurately in the Democratic Republic of Congo demonstrating our Window Sampling Set for mineral exploration.
After much preparation and discussions with different embassies, airlines and international freight hauliers Vincent made it to the region to visit and train fieldworkers of the Banro Corporation, engaged in mineral exploration for gold.
Testing 'kit' in Southampton Yvonne and Vincent on site with Dr Fraser Sturt, researcher in Maritime Archaeology and his team from Southampton University with their new Window Sampling Set. The training session is part of the window sampling package we provide to ensure customers are completely happy with the operation of their new piece of equipment. The kit has already been used by them in earnest on the Isle of Wight.
Measuring water in Wales Jonathan went onsite with Noel Chard of Silent Valley to set up an e+Sense telemetry system to monitor and test water levels at a landfill site in Ebbw Vale, South Wales.
The research programme at the Waste Research Unit centres around sustainable waste management in energy and the environment and is primarily based on the desire to find a solution to the growing problem of using landfill to house large amounts of domestic and industrial waste.
Sponsoring Geoarchaeology, Sheffield, April 2009Van Walt was delighted to support Geoarchaeology 2009 at Sheffield University. The conference looked at cutting edge interactions between archaeology, geography and other Earth Sciences and included topics like...
Van Walt goes EastTo the Middle East that is - Dubai. Ikky and Vincent visited Al Futtaim Bodycote Testing UAE to demonstrate our Percussion Drilling Set on a construction site where the next tallest building in the world will be built. Environmental impact research for contaminants was underway as well as monitoring of the on-site water levels.
