A New Glimpse into the History of Bituminous Geomembrane (BGM) in the USA
A recently uncovered report gives new insight into the early use of BGM in the USA. This application dates back to the summer of 1973, the very early days of geosynthetics. At that time, geotextiles were a new civil engineering material and new innovations and uses were in rapid development. One of these early uses was to coat a geotextile on site with a bitumen emulsion to create an impermeable layer for heap leach extraction on a mine in Nevada. Early in his career, Dan Kappes, the founder and the President of Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) and well known industry pioneer, had an important role in this early use of what is now known as a Bituminous Geomembrane (BGM). We are grateful that he documented the project and preserved the document for over 50 years! This documentation is remarkable because it pre-dates the first recorded applications of BGM in Europe be at least 1 year.
Since this time the BGM has become a well-known type of geomembrane with an extensive history of use in mining and environmental protection. All BGMs are now factory made for high quality control and welded together on site. Some of the fundamental ingredients from these early uses such as the reinforcement geotextile are still present in modern BGMs however many improvements have been made over the years in terms of strength, durability, and application.
