Positions Available

Interested candidates are invited to provide their transcripts, CV, a brief statement of research interests, and copies of publications (if available). For further information regarding these positions, please contact David Wilson


This PDF position will focus on hydrogeochemical characterization of arsenic-bearing mill tailings at an abandoned gold-mine site, and the development and pilot-scale implementation of passive-remediation strategies for attenuating arsenic. This PDF position includes an opportunity for an exchange to the other Network institutions.

This position is hosted at the University of Waterloo under the supervision of Dr. David Blowes and Dr. Carol Ptacek.

The Groundwater Geochemistry and Remediation research group (https://uwaterloo.ca/groundwater-geochemistry-remediation/) at the University of Waterloo invites qualified applicants for postdoctoral studies focused on the application of novel characterization approaches to a waste-rock pile located at an abandoned mine in Yukon Territory, Canada. This research will apply advanced pore-gas concentration and flux measurement techniques, and reactive transport modelling to provide a rigorous quantification of waste rock evolution and contaminant loadings under current conditions at the field site, and will evaluate and assess the potential effectiveness of remediation alternatives. The main tasks of the postdoctoral fellow will be to implement a comprehensive pore-gas concentration and flux measurement program that will complement the large geochemical and mineralogical data set to develop an integrated characterization of the pore-gas transport processes influencing the geochemical evolution of the waste rock and to conduct gas transport and reactive transport modelling.

This project is associated with the TERRE-NET program, which is a multi-institutional and multi- and trans-disciplinary research Network spanning seven universities across Canada and supported by numerous partner organizations, with the overarching goal of ensuring the environmentally responsible, socially acceptable extraction of mineral and energy resources using cutting-edge approaches and technologies.

Interested candidates are invited to provide their transcripts, CV, a brief statement of research interests, names and contact information for three referees, and copies of publications (if available). For further information regarding this position, please contact David Wilson, TERRE-NET Program Manager (dwilson2@uwaterloo.ca), Dr. David Blowes (blowes@uwaterloo.ca), or Dr. Carol Ptacek (ptacek@uwaterloo.ca).

This MSc position will focus on measuring isotope ratios for metal(loid)s frequently encountered in mine drainage. This MSc will digest, purify, and analyze solid-phase material collected from field sites using multi-collector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS).