Pierre Lassonde

Pierre Lassonde, CM, OQ, born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec in 1947, is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist.

Early life

Pierre Lassonde was born in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec in 1947 the third child of 4. He studied at the Séminaire de Saint-Hyacinthe and graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts. He then attended the École polytechnique de Montréal in Montreal^[1] and received a degree in electrical engineering. Following his marriage to a fellow engineering student, Claudette MacKay, the couple moved to Salt Lake City where he attended the University of Utah and received his MBA in 1973.^[2] His wife studied at the university as well, and received her Masters in Nuclear Engineering in the same year.^[3]

Career

After receiving his MBA, he began to work for Bechtel, a leading engineering company based in San Francisco. There he was part of the mining department. In 1977, he joined the international mining company Rio Algom in Toronto, Canada. He left Rio Algom in August 1980 to become the lead portfolio analyst for precious metals at Beutel, Goodman & Company Ltd.^[4]

In 1982, he founded the Franco-Nevada Corporation with his new business partner Seymour Schulich. Franco-Nevada was born from a new twist on an old idea. The two men used the royalty model previously applied to the oil-and-gas industry and applied it to gold. It was the first time the model had been applied to the precious metals segment of the mining industry. In 1986, Lassonde and Schulich endeavored in another joint investment, paying $2 million for royalties in a small heap-leach mine in central Nevada. The venture paid off, eventually becoming the highly productive Goldstrike mine by Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining Corporation. Soon, the production of the Franco-Nevada royalty portfolio ballooned to more than 3 million ounces per yer. The use of their royalty model also was proven an incredibly smart move — Franco-Nevada could boast a 36 percent annualized rate of return over 20-year period. Others took notice, and in 2002, Newmont Mining Corporation acquired Franco-Nevada for US$3.2 billion.^[5]

In 2002, the merger of Franco Nevada, Normandy Mining and Newmont Mining Corp formed the world's largest gold-mining company. Franco-Nevada was valued at approximately US$3.2 billion at the time of the merger. Lassonde served as President of Newmont Mining Corp from 2002 to 2006. In 2008, Lassonde revived Franco-Nevada by joining forces with David Harquail and the rest of the original Franco-Nevada team to acquire Newmont’s royalty portfolio. The born-again Franco-Nevada became the largest gold royalty company on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and its US$1.2 billion IPO was the largest mining IPO ever offered on the TSE at that time.^[6] Lassonde holds the position of Chairman of the Board of the new Franco-Nevada.

Lassonde served as Chairman of the World Gold Council from 2005 to 2009.^[7][8]

In addition, Lassonde authored in 1990 The Gold Book: The Complete Investment Guide to Precious Metals.^[9]

Lassonde serves as Chairman of the Board of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ). (since 2006)

Philanthropy

Lassonde is an active and engaged philanthropist in both Canada and the United States in the fields of education and the arts.

• CDN$5 million to the University of Toronto, in 1996^[10] to support the creation of the Lassonde Mineral Engineering program. Additional donations between 1999-2005 bring the total to CDN$10 million.^[11]

• CDN$1 million to the College Marie-Clarac, in honour of his late wife Claudette MacKay-Lassonde for the creation of the Campus Claudette MacKay-Lassonde in 2001.^[12]
• US$13.25 million to the University of Utah in 2002 for the creation of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute with additional donations to bring the total to US$25 million.^[13]
• CDN$8 million to École Polytechnique in 2002 for the Pavillon Claudette MacKay-Lassonde and Pavillon Pierre Lassonde engineering buildings.^[14]
• CDN$5 million to the University of Western Ontario in 2006 for the Pavilion Claudette MacKay-Lassonde.^[15]
• CDN$25 million to York University in 2012 for the creation of the Lassonde Engineering School.^[16]
• CDN$3.9 million to the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ) in 2006 and additional funds in 2007 to bring the total to CDN$10 million to the institution.^[17]

Honours and Awards

• The Northern Miner's Mining Man of the Year 1997 award (with Seymour Schulich).^[18]
• Mining Developer of the Year awarded by the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) in 1998.^[19]
• Engineering Medal, 1999, awarded by the Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO).^[20]
• Inco Medal, 2001, awarded by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM).^[21]
• Daniel C Jackling Award 2005^[22]
• American Mining Hall of Fame, Inductee, 2005 ^[23]
• GJ Stokes award 2007^[24]
• Degree honoris causa have been bestowed on Lassonde from the following universities: University of Toronto (2001),^[25] University of Montreal (2002),^[26] Ryerson University (2006),^[27] University of Utah (2006^[13]) and York University (2014).^[16]
• Companion of the Order of Canada, 2002.^[28]
• City of Québec awarded him the insignia of the Order of Patrons, 2008.^[29]
• Officer of the National Order of Quebec, 2008.^[30]
• Inducted in to the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in 2013.^[31]

References