Robert M Buchan is a

Scottish-Canadian Scottish Canadians are people of Scottish people, Scottish descent or cultural heritage, heritage living in Canada. As the third-largest ethnic group in Canada and amongst the first Europeans to settle in the country, Scottish people have made a ...

mining engineer, businessman and philanthropist. He founded

Kinross Gold Kinross Gold Corporation is a Canadian-based gold mining, gold and silver mining company founded in 1993 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Kinross currently operates six active gold mines, and was ranked fifth of the "10 Top Gold-mining ...

in 1993. It is now the 3rd-largest gold mining company in North America. Brought up in

Rosyth Rosyth ( gd, Ros Fhìobh, "headland of Fife") is a town on the Firth of Forth, south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to the census of 2011, the town has a population of 13,440. The new town was founded as a Garden city-style suburb ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, Buchan graduated with a 1st class honours degree in Mining from

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in 1969. He earned a master's degree of Science in Mining Engineering from Queen's University in 1972. In 2009 he gave £6 million to his Canadian alma mater, Queen's University, in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

, to fund mining education and, in his honor, the university renamed the Mining Engineering department the Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining. In September 2010 it was announced that Buchan was donating £1.3 million to his Scottish alma mater, to fund their work sustainable

energy engineering Energy engineering or Energy Systems Engineering is a broad field of engineering dealing with energy efficiency, energy services, facility management, plant engineering, environmental compliance, sustainable energy and renewable energy techn ...

, the largest donation the university has ever received from an individual. He has also donated £650,000 to help establish the Whitlock Energy Collaboration Centre at

Carnegie College Carnegie College (formerly Lauder College) is a further education college based in Halbeath, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. It was established in 1899, with financial support from George Lauder (Scottish industrialist), George Lauder and Andrew Car ...

in Fife.

Career

Buchan retired as president and chief executive of Kinross Gold Corporation 10 January 2005, going on to found Katanga Copper, the developer of one of the world's largest copper deposits. He retired from Katanga Copper in 2007. He remains executive chairman and director of Allied Nevada Gold Corp., a gold mining firm that operates the Hycroft mine and has a large number of prospective exploration claims in the state of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. Buchan is a director of the Buchan Family Foundation, a philanthropic body. Mr Buchan was elected to the board of Polyus Gold International in June 2008 and was elected chairman of the board July 2011. He stepped down from the board in 2013. "Polyus Gold International" is a Russian mining and metallurgy conglomerate primarily concerned with the production of gold. Buchan received an Honorary Doctorate from

in 2011. In 2013 he became Chancellor of

Heriot Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

in Edinburgh, Scotland.

References

People from Rosyth Scottish emigrants to Canada Scottish mining engineers Scottish businesspeople Scottish philanthropists Alumni of Heriot-Watt University Queen's University at Kingston alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People associated with Heriot-Watt University {{UK-business-bio-stub