Mining and the Environment III
Sudbury, Canada, May 25-28, 2003

There were approximately 380 people in attendance at the conference. 75% were Canadian and the other roughly 25% representing: Australia, Bolivia, Botswana, Finland, UK, Germany, Indonesia, Iran, South Africa, Sweden, USA, and Zambia.

The proceedings are available through our office by either calling (705) 675-1151 ext 5054 or by email ebamberger@laurentian.ca. They will also be available at many University libraries and online through Laurentian University's library website. www.laurentian.ca/library. Once in there click on the Mining Environment database where you will find the proceedings from this year as well as 1999 and 1995. The ISBN number for these is: 0-88667-051-9.

The three plenary speakers for the conference were: Bill Lautenbach from the City of Greater Sudbury and the Vegetation Enhancement Technical Advisory Committee; Gord Miller, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario; and Rufus Chaney an agronomist with the US Department of Agriculture. The conference banquet was held at Laurentian University's Great Hall and Dr. Art McDonald a professor at Queen's Univeristy and Director of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory gave the keynote address. Tuesday evening, May 27th, Falconbridge Limited hosted a lecture from Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon from the University of Toronto's Centre for the Study of Peace and Conflict.

Medicine Star Singers, a traditional First Nations group from Manitoulin Island performed dance and drumming prior to the lecture. There were a number of field trips and short courses that were all well-received by the participants. A particular highlight of these was a tour of Elliot Lake where delegates got to stay at Denison House.

Heather Conroy. Email: hconroy@laurentian.ca