Daily Bulletin

Hagey lecture tickets Tickets are available now for the November 10 Hagey Lecture by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. They're free, at the Humanities Theatre box office. Says theatre manager Peter Houston: "We are open from noon to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday. We will take phone reservations at 888-4908 or UW ext. 4908."

Acid project wins award for UW

The Synergy '99 Awards "honour outstanding achievement in innovation and wealth creation and showcase the best in collaborative research and development in the natural sciences and engineering". Nominees (there were 44 this year) were required to demonstrate an effective use of university and industry resources, commercial benefits to industry and benefits to the university.

The UW project is a ten-year collaboration with Falconbridge Ltd. to find ways of treating and preventing acid mine drainage.

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is one of the greatest challenges facing environmental managers in the mining industry. The mining and milling of sulphidic ore deposits generates large quantities of sulphide-bearing waste rock and finely crushed mill tailings. When exposed to oxygen and water, these by-products generate acidic effluents, which can leach heavy metals and contaminate the soil and water supplies. The Canadian mining industry spends $100 million a year in the collection and treatment of acid drainage, the construction of engineered structures to contain mining by-products, the relocation of mining by-products to contaminant areas, and the rehabilitation of mine, mill and containment areas after operations have ceased.

These conventional approaches are expensive to operate and maintain, and require a long-term, intensive commitment. David Blowes of UW's earth sciences department is looking at "a more natural approach", says a news release about the awards, "a biological process that once put in place will continue to operate on its own".

"Maintaining a water collection and treatment system into perpetuity is hugely expensive," says Blowes. "The systems we're designing will stand alone for long periods of time. They'll probably need replacement occasionally, but they won't need the day-to-day management required in the past."

Blowes and colleagues Emil Frind and Carol Ptacek have also developed mathematical models to help quantify the risks associated with mining by-product facilities. "Our initial work to understand the problem and look at the effects of AMD has given Falconbridge a much better understanding of what the long-term implications are," says Blowes. "That plays directly into how they design their closure plans and how they make their commitments for the future."

"Through this work, our environmental liability has been significantly reduced," says Denis Kemp, director of environmental development at Falconbridge. "I think as we continue with this research, the cost of mine closures will probably be reduced from original estimates by approximately 70 to 80 per cent. That's a huge reduction in costs and a great leap in progress."

The benefits of the partnership haven't been for Falconbridge only. The collaboration has garnered international recognition for UW, NSERC says, and led to research partnerships with other universities and corporations. There has also been government support -- most recently, a $150,000 grant for Blowes last spring from the Premier's Research Excellence Awards. UW has received patents for two of its remedial technologies.

"Technologically, we've made great progress in our thinking over the past 10 years," says Kemp. "At the beginning of this program we were taking a more brute-force approach. We figured if you smother the tailings with enough material then you're going to solve the problem. Now, because of the knowledge we have gained through Dr. Blowes' research, we are using much more finesse -- an approach based on science."

With support from Falconbridge, Blowes is now looking into the possibility of using waste materials from other industries, such as the pulp and paper or lumber industries, to create a chemically reactive, moisture-retaining cover for mine tailings. This cover would consume oxygen and stabilize dissolved metals within the tailings impoundment.

Talking leads rugby women to wins
-- by John Lofranco, athletics and recreational services

Trish is in her fifth and final year of the English RPW program at Waterloo. She is co-captain of the women's rugby team, and she has started as flanker since she began playing in her third year. Her coach, Eric Ciezar, calls her a "team leader", and she too admits that it is her job to get her teammates pumped up on the pitch. "I'm good at talking on the field. I'm more of the on-field captain." She shares her duties with Annette Vieira, who takes charge in the dressing room.

So how does a girl go from an individual sport like track and field to a sport like rugby, where team togetherness is a must? "Actually I think it's a good combination. Track helps me gear up for the games personally." The individual focus from her track days also helps her block out distractions, like heckling fans, on the field.

Trish remembers her cross-country team as having good team spirit, and rugby is the same way. She says the Waterloo women's rugby team is basically a group of 30 close friends. "I wouldn't feel weird at all about calling up any of the girls on the team to go and do something."

Another win, more games On the heels of that 35-0 defeat of Toronto, the women's rugby team beat Laurier 41-3 on Wednesday night. They're in action Saturday afternoon at Guelph. Other sports events this weekend: the women's basketball team hosts Carleton in an exhibition game at the Physical Activities Complex at 7:00 tonight. The men's rugby team hosts Brock at 1:00 Saturday afternoon at Columbia Field. And both soccer teams host Laurier on Saturday afternoon, also on Columbia Field, the women at 1 p.m. and the men at 3 p.m. Away from campus, the football Warriors make the long trip to play at Concordia University in Montréal tomorrow, as UW gets its first taste of the new "limited interlocking" schedule between the Ontario league and the Ontario-Québec league. The badminton teams are in a tournament at Guelph; the cross-country teams are at Queen's tomorrow; the field hockey Warriors are at Toronto on Saturday and at a York tournament on Sunday; the on-ice hockey Warriors are in a tournament at Mercyhurst College in Pennsylvania; the swimmers are at Guelph tonight; the men's tennis team is at a York tournament; both volleyball teams are at Guelph tomorrow. And the men's basketball Warriors are beginning their pre-season schedule, with a visit to the Laurier Invitational tournament. Waterloo plays the Ryerson Rams at 12 noon on Saturday and the University of Toronto Blues at 12 noon on Sunday. Laurier plays the same two teams at 2:00 each day.

They seem to have that camaraderie that is necessary of championship teams and they showed it last week, shutting out a squad from Toronto 35-0. "If I make a good play, there's somebody to tell me, and if I make a mistake, there's someone there to point it out, to help me out. Nobody takes things personally."

In the off-season, she used a weight training workout, designed for the Warriors football team by Jonathon Fowls, to work on her speed and agility. In the summer she moved to a specifically designed rugby workout. Despite a knee injury, which kept her from playing rugby until after June, she worked hard. "It made me more motivated. If I didn't feel like working out, I would think that I had to catch up and make my knee stronger."

Trish also gives back to the community. She volunteers for the University's Team-Up program, which sends varsity athletes into local schools to talk about ten keys success. "My favorites are goal-setting, teamwork, making sacrifices, and positive attitude. Those are the ones I like to talk about most. It's an awesome experience because sometimes you can tell they really got something out of it. They really understand what you're saying, and they think you're a professional athlete. They look up to you."

Never too old for Guiding

The result: she's active in a UW-based branch of Link, a branch of Girl Guides of Canada for women ages 18 to 30. Link members and other interested women will be getting together for a potluck supper this Sunday.

Most Link members are students, says Harris, "but they can also be women who are just starting their careers or families. It's a way to keep in touch with Guiding after high school, and suits the busy schedules of students (regular and co-op alike), since Link units are active all over Ontario and Canada. Links also have the opportunity to fill leader roles in Spark, Guide, Brownie and Pathfinder groups, who always welcome new faces. With UW, Wilfrid Laurier and Conestoga College all in the same town, Waterloo always has an active Link population."

She points out that "like every other branch of Guiding, we also sell cookies in the spring and late fall, and organise camp outings." Meetings are usually casual dinners or barbecues, and members participate in service projects as well.

Anybody interested in attending Sunday's Link get-together can reach Harris by e-mail (ml2harri@undergrad.math) or call another member of the Link group, science student Grace Hunter, at 888-1027.

Opera ladies padlock peasant -- by Barbara Elve

"The Magic Flute" portrayed on a commemorative gold coin from Austria.

Thus begins the fantastical tale told in Mozart's comic opera, "Die Zauberflöte" (The Magic Flute). In celebration of Oktoberfest, Second Company is staging the opera this Friday and Saturday in the Humanities Theatre.

Second Company garnered rave reviews this summer for its productions of "The Secret Garden", "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street", and "Candide: In Concert". Formed of students in opera and theatre programs from a number of Canadian universities, the troupe has proved its prowess in musical theatre.

The final production of the season, "Die Zauberflöte" will be performed in German with set design inspired by the surrealistic art of René Magritte.

"Magic Flute has a surrealistic feel, with people and objects out of place," explains Second Company performer and assistant director Aoife Nally. "There's no real time and no real place in the opera."

A 28-piece orchestra is being assembled for the production by conductor Francesco Milioto, a McGill graduate, who's rounding up musicians from McGill and Wilfrid Laurier Universities, the University of Toronto, and working professionals in Toronto.

Tickets -- $28 general, $22 students and seniors -- are available from the UW box office at ext. 4908. The show starts at 8 p.m.

Plenty happening this weekend

An open house sponsored by the information systems and technology department today will offer technical information about the Sympatico High Speed Edition Internet service operated by Bell Canada and endorsed by UW. The session starts at 10:00 in Davis Centre room 1302.

Rev. Philip Shano, superior of the Guelph Centre of Spirituality, is at St. Jerome's University for two events today. At 1:30, in Siegfried Hall, he speaks on "The Spirituality of Simple Living: Ignatian Spirituality and the Ecological Crisis". At 7:30, in the college's common room (room 221), he gives a workshop on "The Spirituality of Simple Living". Admission to both events is free.

The philosophy department colloquium series for the fall term gets going today with a talk by Tom Robinson of the University of Toronto (4 p.m., Humanities room 334). Topic: "The Defining Features of Mind-Body Dualism in the Writings of Plato".

A reception (3:30) and dinner (5:30) at the University Club tonight will honour Milan (Mike) Yovanovich of the mechanical engineering department, who is retiring. Last-minute information should be available from Ethel Spike in the mech eng department, phone ext. 6740.

The Tamil movie "Thalabathy", along with an English-language film (name not announced), will be shown at 6:30 tonight in POETS pub in Carl Pollock Hall.

Optometry technician Robin Jones and his buddy John Campbell, better known in folk music circles as "The Men of the Pit", will host the open stage at tonight's Black Walnut Folk Club, starting at 8:00 in the Laurel Room, South Campus Hall. Admission is $3.

The campus recreation program will run the "first annual" Oktoberfest Lifeguard Competition all day Saturday in the Physical Activities Complex pool. "There will be free swims where all community members are welcome to use the UW pool and watch the guards in action," says Rebecca White, fitness and aquatics coordinator for campus rec. "Many of these teams will be using this competition as practice for the provincial championship events that take place in the summer each year." (UW sent three two-person teams to the 1999 competition, one of them placing as high as twelfth.)

"Those of your readers who are around on Saturdays," writes Jeff Stewart, manager of the math coffee-and-doughnut stand, "may be interested to know that the Right Angle Cafe, the Math Society's C+D, will be open starting this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m." The C-and-D, on the third floor of the Math and Computer building, may fill a niche now that Tim Horton's in the Davis Centre is closed on Saturdays.

The lecture series on "Waging Peace in the 21st Century", sponsored by the Waterloo Public Interest Group and others, continues Saturday night with a talk on "Targeted Sanctions in Iraq: Who's Hurting, Saddam or the People?" Speakers are Irene MacInnes, a retired social worker and coordinator of Canada-Cuba Caravans, and Linda Morgan, of the British Columbia branch of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. They'll be appearing at 7:30 Saturday night in Davis Centre room 1302.

Monday brings a celebration on campus for alumni and friends of Concordia University College of Alberta. As part of a series of Concordia celebrations in eastern Canada, a reception will be held at the University Club starting at 7:30 on Monday.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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