Pierre Lassonde

2005 Inductee into American Mining Hall of Fame

Pierre Lassonde was elected President of Newmont Mining Corporation, effective February 2002. He joined the Company following Newmont’s acquisition of Franco-Nevada Mining Corporation Limited, which he co-founded and served as President and Co-Chief Executive Officer from 1982.  He began his mining career with Bechtel Corporation in San Francisco as a Cost Engineer, followed by a Senior Planning Analyst role with Rio Algom Ltd. in Toronto. In 1980, he went to work for one of Canada’s largest institutional money managers, Beutel Goodman & Co., heading their precious metals division as President. He managed the very successful Dynamic Precious Metal Fund. Mr. Lassonde is one of the most prominent gold commentators and the author of the Gold Book, The Complete Investment Guide to Precious Metals.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Montreal in 1967 and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from École Polytechnique in 1981. He graduated with a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Utah in 1973 and was designated a Professional Engineer by the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario in 1976. Mr. Lassonde earned the qualification of Chartered Financial Analyst from the University of Virginia in 1984. The University of Toronto conferred an Honorary Doctorate on him in 2001 and the University of Montreal did the same in 2002. In January 2003, he was made a member of the Order of Canada. In March 2005, he was elected the Chairman of the World Gold Council. He was also the recipient of the “Daniel C. Jackling Award” of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) in 2005.

Pierre Lassonde has made wide-ranging contributions as a successful businessperson, philanthropist, community leader, and supporter of mining education and research. He established the Lassonde Institute for Engineering and Geoscience at the Univ. of Toronto, which has revitalized that university’s Mineral Engineering program. He is a long time supporter of the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame. His strong commitment to developing the knowledge and skills of the next generation is reflected in his remarks, “We should never forget that the most important natural resource of our country is not nickel, gold or diamond, but its people.”

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