Geofirma Engineering

Meet Simon Foster, Senior Hydrogeologist at Geofirma Engineering in North Bay

When you call the North Bay office of Geofirma Engineering, Simon Foster is the one who picks up. He is a senior hydrogeologist with a bachelor's degree in Environmental Science from Laurentian University, a Master of Science from Simon Fraser University and his P.Geo., and he has spent 16 years on environmental and mining projects across Canada and abroad.

Simon was born and raised in North Bay. He spent about fifteen years away, in Waterloo and Vancouver, then came home to raise a family. He lives in East Ferris with his wife and their boys.

A New Geofirma Office in Callander, Serving North Bay

For close to three years Simon has worked for Geofirma from home. He was with an engineering company in town when Geofirma reached out about managing one of the first carbon storage projects in Canada: capturing carbon dioxide and injecting it deep underground. He made the jump, but he stayed in North Bay. He did not want to uproot the family, and Geofirma was fine with that.

That project stalled when the regulations were not in place and some of the major investors got nervous. So Simon went back to the work he has always done, supporting environmental and mining projects, from here.

This year he pitched Geofirma on opening a local office. The new office is on Main Street in Callander, with room for four people. When we met, he was picking out furniture and painting walls. The plan is to hire locally and grow Geofirma in Northern Ontario from this office, instead of bringing staff up from the head office in Ottawa.

Environmental Consulting in Ontario Since 1991

Geofirma started in Ottawa in 1991 as Raven Beck Environmental. In January 2011 it became fully Canadian and employee owned, and took the name Geofirma Engineering.

Here is why that matters to you. At a very large firm, you could call and get a different manager every time. At Geofirma you get the same group and the same standard on every project. The people running the company are geologists, engineers and geoscientists who do the work, and they run it with their own money. Simon is upfront that they cannot take on the volume of a five thousand person firm. He thinks the service is more personal.

What a Hydrogeologist Does on a Mine Site

Say a mining company wants to dig. A hydrogeologist tells them which permits apply, estimates how much water will come into the hole, whether that water needs treatment, and how to get rid of it safely: pumps, piping, metering, and where the discharge goes. Geofirma takes care of the planning and the permitting as well as the infrastructure.

Simon has stood a kilometre underground in the mines at Kirkland Lake, watching water rush in and working out how to move it to surface. Last year he was at a mine in Sonora, Mexico, in the middle of the desert, where water was coming in faster than the pumps could keep up. The job was to predict how much would come in elsewhere in the mine, so the company could plan ahead instead of blasting into a deluge.

For several years Simon has supported mine sites in Northern Ontario. Geofirma has staff working collaboratively with mining groups, complementing their teams to meet regulations.

Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessments in North Bay: What to Know Before You Hire

Locally, Geofirma is hoping to work with municipalities and local business owners, assisting with Phase 1 and Phase 2 environmental site assessments, hydrogeological studies for property developments, quarry groundwater studies, and landfill monitoring.

Simon's advice before you hire any environmental consultant is to be realistic about how big the scope can get. A Phase 1 starts with a property search and a title search. Then you find out there used to be a laundromat or a gas station on the lot. That can open a can of worms and lead to a drilling investigation, and the costs can go up considerably. In his words, be careful what you wish for.

Permits to Take Water and Your Well

If you have a cottage or a well near a new development, a permit to take water is what protects you. When an industrial user wants to draw a large amount of water from one well or a group of wells, the permit is the Ministry's way of controlling how much they take, so your well or a nearby creek does not run dry. With water scarcity and climate change, Simon says it can be a contentious issue.

Geofirma also tests water quality, from a single tap to full groundwater and surface water programs, including for private well owners worried about their water.

Carbon Storage and Deep Geological Repositories

Nationally and internationally, Geofirma is known for radioactive waste work: studying the deep rock where waste can be contained for the long term. It also has deep experience in carbon storage, modelling whether carbon dioxide injected underground will stay there. Simon says the team has the people and the tools to build a 3D model that tells you whether it is safe.

A Good Project Is a Well Managed Project

Ask Simon what he would want a client to say about Geofirma, and it is not about the report. It is that the project was managed properly: upfront about the costs, people arriving on time. If the management is right, he says, it usually hits most of the marks.

Hiring in North Bay and Callander

The northern team will be Simon's mining team, and mines are remote, so he wants people who are comfortable out there. He plans to hire technicians from the colleges and a junior geoscientist from a university such as Laurentian or Queen's.

Off the Clock in East Ferris

Simon's boys play hockey for the Vipers in East Ferris, so a lot of his time goes to the rink. He has played softball his whole life, and he hunts and fishes, usually around Trout Lake. This year it was smallmouth and largemouth bass.

He also has a story from his early twenties, on a project in Mongolia, sleeping in tents in the Gobi Desert. You hung your boots in the rafters at night, because the scorpions and creepy crawlies would nest in them for the warmth. One morning he unzipped the tent to find a camel eating a bag of dry cement mix, its face in a cloud of dust. He still tells it, and people still laugh.

What to Expect When You Call Geofirma in Callander

The Callander office is open Monday to Friday, 8 to 5. Call the office or email Simon directly, whether your question is about a property, a well, a landfill or a mine. As Simon put it, the big thing is just making people aware that Geofirma is another group in the area.