OMA member IAMGOLD donates $1.25 million to Laurentian University

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

Ontario Mining Association member IAMGOLD has donated $1.25 million to the Bharti School of Engineering at Laurentian University in Sudbury. This gift is dedicated to establish Canada’s first research chair in open pit mining. The search for this position will begin soon and the aim is have the successful candidate in place by July 2013.

“The future of the mining industry depends of our ability to step up the pace of innovation and this has to start with educational programs and research opportunities specializing in advanced mining techniques,” said Stephen Letwin, IAMGOLD’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Creating Canada’s first research chair in the highly specialized field of open-pit mining positions Laurentian University as a leader in mining research.”

“We are honoured to support this unique and valuable program,” Mr. Letwin added. “With the Cote gold project in Northern Ontario as an open-pit mine, it is gratifying to know that we will be both helping to address the serious shortage of skilled mining professionals in this country and creating job opportunities for our future mining engineers.”

“This investment represents a critically important enhancement of our research capacity at the Bharti School,” said Ramesh Subramanian, Director of Laurentian University’s Bharti School of Engineering. “This new research chair will attract more cutting-edge knowledge to our mining engineering programs and will augment our international reputation in mining.”

“This position will be the first research chair at Laurentian that is fully funded by a private sector investor,” said Dominic Giroux, President and Vice Chancellor of Laurentian University. “We are especially proud to be associated with a company like IAMGOLD, whose corporate philosophy enshrines the highest standards in human health, environmental impacts, social responsibility and cooperation with host communities.”

Laurentian University’s main campus is located in Sudbury and it has about 10,000 students. It also has a campus in Barrie serving about 1,200 students. Laurentian University was founded in 1960.

IAMGOLD, which has its head office in Toronto, is a gold producer. Its current output is approximately one million ounces of bullion annually from five gold mines located in three continents. In Ontario, the company is developing the Cote Gold Project, which is located between Sudbury and Timmins, close to Highway 144 near Gogama.

A recently updated report on the Cote Gold Project shows an indicated mineral resource containing 3.56 million ounces of gold and an inferred mineral resource containing 4.66 million ounces of gold. The company is looking at developing an open pit mine and it is working towards completing a pre-feasibility study on the project by the second half of 2013.

Mining companies are responsible, solution-providing partners in society. They do more than find, extract and process minerals essential to our modern lifestyle. They volunteer and add great value to the quality of life in their communities and beyond.