BMO Financial Group has made a donation of $250,000 to Laurentian University’s Goodman School of Mines. The cheque presentation was made at BMO’s offices at First Canadian Place in Toronto during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada International Convention and Trade Show.
“At BMO Financial Group we believe in personal growth and achievement through continuous learning and access to education. We’re impressed with the vision of the Goodman School of Mines at Laurentian University, and with its focus on training the next generation of mining professionals in Canada,” said Jason Neal, managing director & global co-head, global metals & mining, BMO Capital Markets.
“We are delighted to count BMO Financial Group among the significant private sector supporters of our Goodman School of Mines,” said Laurentian University president and vice-chancellor Dominic Giroux. “I believe that we share a sincere conviction that both graduate education and life-long learning for mid-career professionals will enrich and strengthen the mining industry in Canada and abroad.”
The BMO Financial Group investment will be used to enhance the skills of future professionals in mineral exploration and mining, drive the creation of executive programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, formalize new provincial, national and international alliances with other post-secondary institutions, double enrolment by 2020 and improve the university experience for students in Earth Sciences and Engineering.
Several weeks later, Laurentian officially concluded its Next 50 fundraising campaign, having raised $62.5 million - $12.5 million in excess of the $50 million campaign goal.
Other major contributors were Vale, Xstrata, IAMGOLD, Ned Goodman and family, Stan Bharti and family, Quadra FNX and Power Corp. The Sudbury Families campaign also drew significant contributions from several luminaries of the city’s mining and supply and service sectors, including Gord Slade, a former senior Falconbridge executive, Don Rastall of Rastall Nut and Bold, and Milad Mansour of Mansour Mining.
