If you have an item of interest, or any news of your activities (or those of your classmates), please let us know. We will try to incorporate as much as possible into future newsletters. Did you write an annual newsletter at Christmas? Send it to Dr. Raeside at the Department of Geology (e-mail rob.raeside@acadiau.ca)

Barry Banks (BSc ‘04) was offshore in western Africa last winter doing seafloor mapping for C&C, Lafayette, Louisiana. C&C Technologies recruits geologists and included their website for those interested in a career in the southern States: www.cctechnol.com.

Paul Barker (BSc ‘04) is working as a GIS/Remote Sensing Analyst with Golder Associates Ltd. In Toronto. He and Lauren were married in August in Montreal, an event which attracted a host of Acadia friends.

Cameron Bartsch (MSc ‘05) left his job with the Saskatchewan government and returned to the exploration world. He is now working with Dundee Precious Metals, and he and Marlis are based on Vancouver Island. Apparently Regina was too far from the sea (a sad admission from two Saskatchewan natives!). We were happy to see them both in Wolfville for a short visit during the summer.

Robin Black (MSc ‘05) is working with Equity Engineering Ltd. based in Vancouver but spending a lot of time in the north (Yukon, Alaska). He writes that he has been in Manson Creek since the end of September managing a small 1500 m diamond drilling program. Manson Creek is a tiny (30 people) town in the Bulkley-Nechako Valley about two hours west of Mackenzie. Its a neat place, as it is an old placer mining town with a few active placer mines and tonnes of junk from the old days, like an old steam shovel that apparently took 2 years to walk into Manson Creek from Fort St. James!”.

Peter Budgell (BSc ‘03) and his wife Melissa welcomed their first child, Peter Norbert, on February 14. Peter continues as a geological analyst working at Infomine.com though was considering a move to Alberta in hopes of cashing in on some of the oil sand dollars.

Andrea Cotie-Melnyk (BSc ‘85) teaches Scottish country dance in Tantallon justoutside of Halifax. She teaches 25 kids and 16 adults and enjoys it immensely.

Peter Dalton (BSc ‘05) continues to travel back and forth from Vancouver to Mongolia, working for Erdene Gold, plus the odd visit to Nova Scotia in between. He writes that “I have had great exposure to many aspects of the business - Cu/Au, PGE, Uranium, Coal, aggregate..... Learning lots, plus I get to live in a ger.”

Brian Eddy (BSc ‘87) completed his PhD in Ottawa and took up a sessional position teaching in the Geography and Environmental Studies Department at Carleton University. His profile can be found at: http://www.carleton.ca/geography/faculty/ eddy.html

Gerard Eddy (BSc ‘93) continues as a GIS/Remote Sensing Technician with Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations, Registry and Information Management Services. He and his wife Sonya celebrated the birth of Ella June Eddy on Halloween (8 lbs, 4 oz).

Martin Ethier (MSc ‘01) eloped in July and married Coleen. He continues working in Haileybury, Ontario, making significant discoveries (Lapointe Kimberlite: www.tres-or.com).  See Martin’s “Where Are They Now?” contribution.

Brent Ferguson (BSc ‘97) returned to Acadia University on May 27, 2006 to marry Heather Barton ('00) at Manning Memorial Chapel. The groom and his groomsmen, including a fellow geology grad Chris Helmer (BSc '97) wore kilts to the wedding and had a great time at a great party. Brent continues to work at Jacques Whitford in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia as an environmental geologist and project manager.

Left to right: Chris Smith ('00) – best man, Brent Ferguson ('97) – groom holding bride Heather Barton ('00), groomsmen Sean Ryan ('97) and Chris Helmer ('97)

Vic French (MSc ‘86) is now running North Range Resources Limited based in Conception Bay, Newfoundland. Vic and his wife Audrey made a holiday visit to Nova Scotia during the early summer, and gave those of us who were here back in the mid-1980’s an opportunity to reminisce about “how things were”.

Jennifer Gignac (BSc ‘06) dropped in just before Christmas with her friend Andy. They live in Thunder Bay, having bought a “house” there (the house consists of a walls, roof and nothing else) which Andy is in the process of rebuilding from the inside out. Jenn is working with Landore Resources, most recently on a Cu-Zn property near Chibougamau, Quebec.

Elizabeth Grace (BScH ‘00). Was accepted for graduate studies at the Colorado School of Mines. Prior to this she accepted a temporary transfer to New Zealand working in remote well-site where she monitored an offshore rig from an office.

Russel Hiebert (MSc ‘05) continues to work in Sudbury for FNX Mining. He enjoys a varied job involving among other things “lots of ATV work, including flipping one off on its side”. He finally generated a manuscript for publication from his MSc thesis, too - the gauntlet is now thrown to Robin Black.

Raymond Hodge (BSc ‘92) is a computer support specialist with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in St. John’s. Address: rayhodge@gov.nl.ca.

Karen Johnston (BSc ‘02) sent us a memoir of life on the high seas, drilling in the ocean floor from Panama to Victoria, her fourth cruise on the Ocean Drilling Program. In January, she accepted a position with ESRI in Redlands, California, as a product engineer for their 3D team, although her post scriptum indicates she had been lured back to sea aboard the JOIDES again for three months off India.

Misha LeBlanc dropped by for a visit in November. He is working as a GIS system technician with the NS Department of Environment and Labour in Yarmouth.

Colin MacDonald (BSc ‘91) was encountered at the NSDNR Mining Matters conference in November. He is the GeoNOVA Program Coordinator with Service Nova Scotia in Halifax, and is responsible for producing an amazing new series of colour map projects to replace the old “orthophoto maps” that many students will recall fondly from field school and/or their thesis projects.

Lachlan MacLean (BSc ‘99) now resides in London, Ontario, where he plans to complete his PhD in August. He just got back from Argonne National Labs using their synchrotron light source at the APS and is conducting molecular-scale studies of metal sulfide precipitation on to bacteria cell walls. He married London resident Heather Byrne in February.

Natalie MacLean (BScH ‘04) successfully defended her MSc thesis at the University of Regina in April (title: "Petrology of the 2001 and 2002/3 eruptions from Mt. Etna, Sicily"). She then joined the significant number of Acadia graduates working in Sudbury.

Kelly Mahoney (MSc ‘96) is working as Mineral Development Advisor with the Northwest Territories Government. She keeps track of all the mining and exploration activity in the territory, and the regulatory and environmental assessment processes. She also writes briefs for the deputy minister, minister and premier.

Congratulations to Steve McCutcheon (MSc ‘81) who received the L.W. Bailey Award in recognition of outstanding dedication and service to New Brunswick’s geoscientific community as well as his technical proficiency, volunteerism, professional leadership and mentorship. The L.W. Bailey Award is the most prestigious award a professional geoscientist can receive from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick (APEGNB)

Frances Mitchell (BScH ‘04) is in the process of finishing her thesis at Queen’s on Grenville mylonite zones, and is hoping to defend it in January or February.

Cheryl Reid (MSc ‘05). worked for Sabina Silver in Nunavut logging core from a VMS deposit and enjoyed the 4-week on, 2-week off rotation.

Ben Stormont (BSc ‘06) accepted a position working as a project geologist with Sarah Whitaker (MSc ‘87) in Orlando, Florida and is currently learning to use ArcGIS and ground-water modeling programs. His plans were to take classes on wetlands delineation. He notes with a sense of irony how working in Florida does not provide geologists with outcrops. The largest hill is in Minneola where he is overseeing a 36” municipal supply well – the elevation is 230 feet. His field work has proven to be a bit scary because of the resident alligators, snakes and spiders.

Alison Steele (BScH ‘87) announced the official opening of her Texas corporation – Steele Environ­mental Services. She invites interested parties to view www.EnviroSteele.com which will finally explain why she’s still running around digging holes in the ground and visiting sewage plants. Her website is worth a visit even if you do not need any environ­mental remediation, just for a look at the boots!

Darin Wasylik (BScH ‘03) is based in Vancouver with Nevsun Resources Ltd. He has been working in Eritrea, and has kept us informed by sending photos of what is a truly exotic locale, including camels, dessert landscapes, village markets, and a blue-looking Red Sea. He and Jessica bought their first home in Vancouver.

Lincoln Weller (BSc ‘05) is working for Excel Geophysics Inc., a small company mainly doing gravity surveys based out of High River, AB. He worked for a three week period in Colville Lake, NT, doing long-line gravity surveys from helicopters and continued seismic lines work during February and March out of Deline (located along Great Bear Lake) this time on snowmobiles. Recent travels have taken him to Montana, northern Alberta and through Chetwynd and Cranbrook, BC. He is hoping to do underwater gravity in Egypt which would top off his travel experience to date.

Julie (Thomas) White (BSc ‘02) dropped in this summer for a visit with her 2-month old daughter Jessica. She was on maternity leave from her position as grants officer at UNB.

Aléna Wilson (BSc ‘00) purchased property on the South Shore near Mahone Bay where she keeps her two horses and rents out while she’s on the drilling rigs working as a well-site geologist.

Nadine Wood (BSc ‘05) finished her first term at Dalhousie. In October, she received an Advanced Studies scholarship from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick and has been learning a lot about environmental management, particularly oceans management, this term with her main focus being the Eastern Scotian Shelf Integrated Management Plan (ESSIM). She was nominated to participate on the 2006-07 ESSIM Forum workshop committee and will be helping to organize the event this term with some of the other stakeholders.

Attending the Nova Scotia Geomatics Conference, held at Acadia on 5-8 June were Gerard Eddy (BSc ‘93) and Jeff Parks (BSc ‘86). Gerard works in the NS Dept of Resources office in Bridgewater as a GIS technician, and Jeff is Geomatics Consultant for his company, Birch Hill GeoSolutions, based in Lewis Lake, NS.