Laurentian University is naming its new School of Mines in honour of Ned Goodman, CEO of Dundee Corporation, in recognition of a major contribution toward a $20 million endowment.
“We want to be associated with Laurentian University because it’s undoubtedly the go-to university for mineral exploration and mining in Canada,” Goodman told students, faculty and university administrators at a reception October 15th. “When I heard about Laurentian’s plans for a new, innovative School of Mines, I knew I wanted to be part of it.”
Funds from the endowment will support the development of new mining-related courses and programs, enhance the learning environment, fund scholarships and assist with student recruitment.
The school, which builds on Laurentian’s current Mining Engineering and Earth Sciences programs, will expand to include related disciplines, including occupational health and safety, aboriginal relations, mine management and finance. There are also plans to offer executive programs in modular, short-course and distance education formats to mining industry professionals.
A global search for the founding director of the Goodman School of Mines is currently under way.
Goodman, who was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame earlier this year, has a degree in Geology from McGill University and an MBA from the University of Toronto.
He was a co-founder of CMP Group, which has raised close to $5 billion for mining and petroleum exploration over more than three decades, and was the driving force behind the Dundee group of companies, which grew under his family’s leadership from a $300-million base to a $50 billion mutual fund entity.
Goodman played a key role in the re-emergence of Canada’s gold-mining industry in the 1980s, ultimately becoming the largest shareholder and chairman of International Corona, which held interests in the Hemlo gold camp on the north shore of Lake Superior. He was also instrumental in the birth and development of several other mining companies, including Kinross Gold, IAMGOLD, Dundee Precious Metals and FNX Mining, now part of KGHM International, which owns and operates several mines in the Sudbury Basin.
The Goodman family contribution is the second major gift received by Laurentian University in less than a year.
In November 2011, the university renamed its school of engineering in honour of Stan Bharti, chairman and CEO of Toronto-based merchant banker Forbes & Manhattan, who established a $10 million endowment for the school.
With the gift from the Goodman family, the university’s Next 50 fundraising campaign has raised $63.3 million, well in excess of its original $50 million goal.
