Sudbury host to Canada's first open-pit mining research chair

A Sudbury university saysit's now home to Canadas first research chair in open pit mining a position that's being fully funded by a private sector investor.

The Bharti School of Engineering at Laurentian University is creating the position with a $1.25 million investment from Toronto-based gold miner IAMGOLD Corporation.

"This investment represents a critically important enhancement of our research capacity at the Bharti School," said Dr. Ramesh Subramanian, the schools director.

"This new Research Chair will attract more cutting-edge knowledge to our mining engineering programs and will certainly augment our international reputation in mining."

Laurentian said it hopes to have a candidate in place by July of this year.

"The future of the mining industry depends on our ability to step up the pace of innovation and this has to start with educational programs and research opportunities specializing in advanced mining techniques," said Steve Letwin, IAMGOLDs president and CEO.

"With the development of our Ct Gold project in northern Ontario as an open-pit mine, its gratifying to know that we will be both helping to address the serious shortage of skilled mining professionals in this country and creating job opportunities for our future mining engineers."

Photo: (Left to right) / Dans le photo: (gauche droite): Stephanie Fontaine (2nd Year Mining Engineering Student), Ramesh Subramanian (Laurentian University), Gordon Stothart (IAMGOLD), Dave Brown (IAMGOLD), Philip Gaultier (IAMGOLD), Albert Nelmapius (IAMGOLD), Pierre Pelletier (IAMGOLD), Stephen Letwin (IAMGOLD), Tracy MacLeod (Laurentian University), Dominic Giroux (Laurentian University).