With a vision to attract the best and the brightest young engineering students to mining, and to prepare them for the increasingly complex challenges of the global minerals industry, Queen’s Mining alumnus Robert M. Buchan donated $10 million to the Department of Mining Engineering in 2009. It is the single largest donation to mining education in Canadian history.
Now named the Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining in Mr. Buchan’s honour, $2 million of the donation supports student-focused programs and curriculum development, course materials and distance learning infrastructure. The remainder, $8 million, established an endowment to fund ongoing academic and staff positions.
The gift ensures that the Department – one of North America’s largest mining schools – can continue its long tradition of innovative teaching, research and leadership in the global mining industry. It enables Queen’s Mining to broaden, enhance, and enrich the learning experience it offers students, equipping them to deal with the increasingly interlinked technical, economic, social, and regulatory factors prevalent in today’s mining industry.
