YAMANA GOLD INC. has funded a generous gift of $1.5 million to support an innovative interdisciplinary program to develop the next generation of mining professionals.
This gift will support the creation of the Yamana Centre for Sustainable Exploration and Resource Development, an interdisciplinary centre supported by the Faculty of Law, along with the Faculty of Science and the Ivey School of Business.
The Centre brings together the university’s expertise in exploration geosciences, environmental science, mining law, finance, corporate social responsibility and business sustainability.
“This interdisciplinary Centre recognizes that sustainable resource development is inherently complex,” says Dean of Law Iain Scott.
“It builds on Western’s existing strengths and will incorporate knowledge from resource geoscience with the legal and business aspects of sustainability to provide a truly powerful combination for the education of tomorrow’s extractive industry leaders,” he adds.
The gift will support scholarships, internships, and a variety of interdisciplinary courses, programs and events for students, such as leadership forums, conferences and related activities of the Yamana Centre.
Yamana Gold is a Canadian-based gold producer with significant gold production, gold development stage properties, exploration properties, and land positions throughout the Americas including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Canada.
“We are pleased to associate with Western and this program and are delighted with its interdisciplinary approach which recognizes the complexity and diversity of mining,” says Peter Marrone, CEO of Yamana Gold.
“We believe it’s imperative to find, encourage and nurture future leadership in mining and are particularly pleased that we will help encourage the development of mining best practices as they relate to sustainability, health and safety,” he adds.
Yamana Gold’s support has also enabled the creation of the Global Sustainability Certification Program at Western, a world-class program that will train students from complementary disciplines in sustainable development in the mining sector.
Western Law professor Sara Seck teaches and researches in the area of corporate social responsibility and international law.
“The Yamana Centre will provide students with the opportunity to learn how to confront the unique challenges confronting the mining sector in a socially responsible manner so as to avoid conflicts and contribute positively to sustainable outcomes for local communities,” says Seck.
Over the next two years, Western will develop fully interdisciplinary courses that are specifically designed for students in the certification program. Students will engage in collaborative projects and a range of co-curricular activities, including a “capstone” field school.
In connection with this initiative and with support from Yamana Gold, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has approved the establishment of the NSERC/Yamana Gold Inc. Industrial Research Chair in Advanced Mineral Exploration at Western University, with Dr. N.R. Banerjee as Chairholder.
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