Paris, September 15, 2017

The Kariba Dam in Zambia

EPC France signed a major contract with Razel-Bec to carry out drilling and blasting work on the Kariba dam rehabilitation project in Zambia.

The project is about the expansion and consolidation of the spillway.

The project is 100% financed by the European Development Fund (EDF) because of the critical nature of the project: the torrents from the spillway have eroded the bedrock, carving a vast crater that has undercut the dam’s foundations. The dam is 128m and was built in 1959.

EPC France offers a global solution for the use of explosives on this site, and provides its methods and recognized standards of safety and technical expertise in blasting specializations that are:

• Micro-blasting
• Rope access work drilling and blasting
• Drilling and mass blasting
• Presplitting drilling and blasting for slope stability and protection
• Underwater drilling and blasting
• Caving

EPC France will also provide a set of ancillary services to explosives work, including:

• Opening and managing of an on-site storage of detonators and explosives
• Vibration monitoring for monitoring the dam and neighboring power plants
• On-site explosive manufacturing with a mobile unit
• Blast outputs measurement by photogrammetry

It should be noted that the project’s call for tenders referred to three reference international micro-blasting projects carried out near a dam. Of these 3 projects, 2 had been carried out by EPC France. These experiences and references were instrumental for obtaining pre-qualification on this project.

EPC France opened a branch in Zambia on 4 August in preparation for the next start of works.