Stewart Blusson
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Dr. Stewart "Stu" Lynn Blusson OC (born 1939) is a multimillionaire and philanthropist. He co-discovered billion-dollar Ekati Diamond Mine, 300 kilometres from Yellowknife, Canada. He is President of Archon Minerals Ltd. Blusson donated $10 million for the Archon X Prize to develop a quick and inexpensive way to sequence the human genome.
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[edit] Biography
Blusson was born in Vancouver, BC in 1939. He completed an undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia (1960) and a doctorate in geology at the University of California, Berkeley (1964). After school, he joined the federal Geological Survey of Canada, leading regional geological mapping and research programs in the central Yukon and parts of British Columbia. During that time he survived a serious helicopter crash and a Grizzly bear attack. In 1969, Chuck Fipke, a geologist, needed to be rescued from the side of a mountain where he had been stranded for close to a week. Blusson was the helicopter pilot that saved him. From this first encounter, Fipke and Blusson became friends and prospecting partners. In 1980, Blusson married his wife, Marilyn. He left the Geological Survey in 1979 to explore the modes of formation of mineral deposits from Mexico to the Arctic. He discovered a number of important occurrences of gold, copper and other metals. In 1981, he and Fipke began searching for diamonds in the Northwest Territories, concentrating their search on indicator minerals commonly associated with kimberlite, a host rock for diamond. They found kimberlitic indicator minerals near Lac de Gras in the Northwest Territories in 1985, and their first kimberlite at Pointe Lake in 1991. In 1998, Ekati opened, a joint venture between BHP Diamonds Inc. (51%), Dia Met Minerals (29%), Fipke (10%), and Blusson (10%). Blusson's net worth in 2002 was estimated to be $295 million (US). In 2004, he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada and was presented with the Logan Medal, Geological Association of Canada's highest honour. In 2006, Blusson donated the largest medical prize in history, $10 million (US), for the Archon X Prize.
[edit] Philanthropy
- 1998- $50-million (Cdn) to the University of British Columbia for genetic research performed by Michael Smith, Nobel laureate
- 2002- $32-million to Quest University in Squamish, British Columbia
- 2006- $5-million (Cdn) to Vancouver Aquarium for an educational program
- 2006- $10-million (Cdn) to the Spinal Cord research centre backed by activist Rick Hansen
- 2006- $10-million (US) to Archon X Prize
[edit] Archon X Prize
The prize is named after the ancient Archean Craton core plate beneath Canada where diamonds were discovered. Dr. Blusson will give $10-million (US) to the person or group that can develop a quick and inexpensive way to sequence a human genome. The winner will be the first to decode the DNA of 100 people in 10 days.
