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Geotechnical News • March 2017
WASTE GEOTECHNICS
engineers, regulators and researchers.
Exhibitors were also present at the
conference to showcase their technolo-
gies and services.
The conference had special keynote
addresses from Alberta’s Energy
Regulator (AER) and representatives
from the oil sands industry. Mr. Tim
Eaton and Ms. Tania De Silva from
AER outlined the current approach to
fluid tailings management regulation
and associated tailings containment
facilities. Then John Brogly, Director
of COSIA’s Tailings EPA, as well as
Mr. Paul Cavanagh from Imperial Oil
outlined their path forward to meet the
requirements of the Oil Sands Tail-
ings Management Plan recently put
forward by the Alberta Government.
The presentations and conference
proceedings highlighted the indus-
try’s extensive research efforts since
the issuing of the Alberta’s Tailings
Management Framework for Mineable
Athabasca Oil Sands in 2015.
At the conference, the University of
Alberta Geotechnical Centre was
proud to announce a new scholar-
ship in honour of one of the found-
ing members of the International Oil
Sands Tailings Conference series. The
first recipient of the Dave Sego Gradu-
ate Award in Innovative Research was
Mr. Ralph Burden, a full-time PhD
candidate in the Geoenvironmental
Engineering program at the University
of Alberta.
The OSTRF would like to thank
ConeTec, Alfa Laval, BGC Engineer-
ing, Hayward Baker Canada, NAIT,
Norwest Corporation and SRK Con-
sulting for their invaluable sponsor-
ship of the conference. The University
of Alberta Geotechnical Centre will
next host Tailings and Mine Waste
‘17 in Banff, Alberta, November 5-8,
2017.
Brian Ernest Hall
February 4, 1953 to
December 25, 2016
Optimistic and pragmatic to the end,
Brian died after an exhausting tussle
with pancreatic cancer, aged 63. He
is survived by his wife Vivienne (nee
Roberts), the love of his life and his
very best friend, and their two sons
Andrew and Robert, of whom he was
immensely proud. He was predeceased
by his mother and father, Mavis (nee
Appleton) and Ernie Hall.
Brian was born in Ladysmith, South
Africa and spent his childhood in his
beloved home town of Colenso. He
paid tribute to the town in a piece he
wrote called “Memories of a Colenso
Childhood”. After his military service,
he studied at the University of Natal
where he discovered his lifelong inter-
est in geotechnical engineering. In 2000
he completed an M.Eng. at the Univer-
sity of British Columbia.
Brian’s work experience was broad,
ranging from railway, harbour and
geotechnical engineering at the SA
Railways to consulting geotechni-
cal engineering in five different firms
in three countries. In his final role
he was Chief Engineer at Tetra Tech
EBA. Brian was passionate about his
profession and got huge pleasure from
mentoring others and sharing his broad
and diverse knowledge in numerous
technical publications.
He had a curious and creative mind
and had many interests extending
beyond his work. He loved exploring
new places and had a fascination for
the local history wherever he lived.
He enjoyed collecting art, especially
Black South African art, and built up an
impressive book collection covering his
many and varied interests.
True to his character, he met the cancer
challenge head on, and it became his
last and biggest project. He kept him-
self positive by having goals stretching
out to 2020. He epitomized the Cecil
Rhodes death bed quote, “so much to
do, so little time”.
In addition to his immediate family,
Brian leaves behind his brother Ken-
neth (Ina), his extended family in South
Africa, Canada, and England, and many
friends and colleagues in South Africa,
the US, Canada and elsewhere.
IN MEMORIAM
