Civil Engineering August 2022 | Vol 30 No 7

Civil Engineering August 2022 7 Company. The division specialises in the use of cone penetration testing (CPTu) techniques, pressure meter testing, electric vane shear testing, and Marchetti dilatom- eter testing (DMT, SDMT) to characterise the in-situ state of the ground. The Mukona In Situ management team has many years of experience in all aspects of CPTu and, combined with highly trained and skilled field staff and high-quality, cutting-edge technologies and equipment, the division is able to provide accurate and reliable ground investigation data. Mukona In Situ also owns six CPTu rigs, putting it ahead of the pack in terms of capacity and resources in South Africa. The division works extensively in the mining and civil engineering industry, providing specialised testing services for many of South Africa’s large mining and consulting engineering companies. It has also worked on a variety of projects in Southern Africa, East Africa, the Middle East and Europe. The company is dedicated to growing the knowledge base in South Africa and, in 2020, Mukona Group covered the costs for three international experts to present an in-situ testing course in South Africa. This first-of-a-kind course in South Africa was presented by Tom Lunne from the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Dr John Powell, Technical Director of Geolabs in the UK, and Darren Ward, Managing Director of In Situ in the UK, at the Universities of the Witwatersrand, KwaZulu-Natal and Cape Town. TURNKEY SOLUTIONS What sets Mukona Group apart is its ability to offer complete geotechnical turnkey solutions through its various divi- sions. Through the strategic alliance of its three divisions, the Group offers “cradle to grave” solutions for small to large projects, specialising in development planning and project management, project appraisal and feasibility studies, project definition, scope and briefing, contract administration, as well as engineering works site supervision. “We are not just the investigators, but also the designers and the contractors, so we know the end product and how it will perform in the ground. By providing a turnkey offering, Mukona can provide the most suitable and cost-effective solution for the client by gaining a full understanding of the geotechnical condi- tions and the most appropriate solutions,” explains the Group’s Managing Director, Solly Phalanndwa. An example of this is a project in Polokwane where Mukona was appointed to perform a site investigation to determine the founding levels for a bridge and provide designs. The client then went on to appoint Mukona to undertake the foundation installation. “We were able to optimise the costs for the foundation because we were the ones who did the investigation, and we understood the geology and how the foun- dations were going to perform,” says Solly. Mukona Group is currently under- taking several large projects, including the support of rock slope failure in Graskop, seismic CPTu testing, MOSTAP Soil Sampling, and the installation of vibrating wire piezometers for two large tailings dams for Foskor. The vibrating wire piezometers provide real-time monitoring of groundwater levels on the mine tailings dams, which can affect stability. The in- stallation comes with solar panels to power the system, making it particularly suitable for remote areas. In addition, Mukona is performing several rotary drilling and materials investigation projects for SANRAL’s N3 road and bridge upgrades in KwaZulu- Natal, as well as investigating several of the bridges that collapsed in the region’s recent floods. Mukona In Situ is currently working on four mines in Zimbabwe to provide testing services. These all add to the Group’s impres- sive portfolio of successfully completed projects which include large solar and wind farms, road and hydrogeological developments, as well as a variety of mining projects. For more information www.mukonagroup.com info@mukonagroup.com +27 (0)11 443 8293 / 3536 About the founder Solly Phalanndwa (Pr Eng) has 26 years’ experience in the civil engineering industry and has built his career from the ground up, having started out as a general labourer for Franki Africa (now Keller Geotechnics) before ultimately becoming a geotechnical design engineer. Building on a solid foundation of knowledge gained from working on site, Solly enrolled for a national diploma in civil engineering, sponsored by Franki Africa. But his ambitions did not end there and, inspired to become a fully-fledged civil engineer, Solly went on to complete his BSc in civil engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand. Solly spent 15 years with Franki Africa as a design engineer and had the opportunity to work as a designer on the Gautrain project. He then spent three years at Eskom’s Group Technology geotechnical engineering department before becoming the group lead for geotechnical engineering in Africa at Arup. Four years later he founded Mukona Group and, together with his team, has grown the company extensively over the last five years. Over the past 12 years Solly has also served as a part-time lecturer and external moderator for UNISA. Solly has been an active member of SAICE for much of his career. This includes being an active member of the Geotechnical Division for 15 years, including two years as chairperson in 2018/19. Pile driving, lateral pile testing and pull-out testing for a proposed solar PV plant in the Free State