Ian Telfer is a British-born Canadian mining executive, entrepreneur and former chairman of
Goldcorp Inc. Besides leading Goldcorp, he is known for founding and leading other Canadian mining companies, including TVX Gold, Silver Wheaton Corp., and Uranium One, as well as for his philanthropic efforts that include a donation of $25 million to the University of Ottawa's School of Management, now the
Telfer School of Management.
Early life and education
Ian Telfer was born in
Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
, England.
Telfer's father, John Telfer,
served as a
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
pilot, then as an accountant, while his mother worked as a schoolteacher.
When Telfer was two years old, his family moved from England to Canada.
Telfer's family first lived in
Moose Jaw
Moose Jaw is the List of cities in Saskatchewan, fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina, Saskatchewan, Re ...
, Canada for five years before moving to the
Downsview neighbourhood of Toronto, which is where Telfer was raised.
Telfer attended the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
, graduating from the university with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and economics in 1968.
Telfer graduated with an uncertainty as to what to do with his life and what his next step would be.
At age twenty-five, following five years of working at "nondescript" sales jobs,
Telfer realized he needed to "reboot" his life
and applied to a number of MBA programs in Canada. Because of his grades, he was rejected by all of the schools.
The day before classes began, Telfer was accepted to the
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...
’s MBA program.
In Telfer’s words, being accepted to this university’s MBA program changed his life and "kick-started everything".
After earning his MBA from the university in 1976,
Telfer earned his certified accountant credentials,
becoming a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Career
Telfer first worked at Hudson Bay Mining as a financial analyst.
At Hudson Bay, Telfer learned the essentials of the mining business, such as strategic planning and how to evaluate businesses. As Telfer has explained in the past, "Everything I learned (about the mining business), I learned there."
Though Telfer had no long-term plans of working in the mining industry, he credits getting a job at Hudson Bay as a "coincidental opportunity" and something that lit up his entrepreneurial ambitions.
After working at Hudson Bay, in 1983, Telfer, along with several other colleagues in the mining industry, formed TVX Gold, with Telfer serving as the company's chief executive officer.
The ambition behind TVX Gold was to take advantage of the gold rush occurring in
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
at the time. Telfer moved to
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
and spent the next six years leading TVX Gold in Brazil
and working with mining executive and entrepreneur
Eike Batista. TVX Gold would later merge with
Kinross Gold Corp.
Vengold Inc.
After TVX Gold, in the 1990s, Telfer formed and led Vengold Inc. as its chief executive officer. Vengold was a gold mining company with ambitions of becoming the largest shareholder in
Lihir Gold, a gold mining company based in
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
.
In order to achieve this goal, Telfer led Vengold in purchasing shares of Lihir Gold from the government of Papua New Guinea
through a line of credit. While doing so, the price of gold decreased, leading Vengold to have more debt than equity.
As Telfer recalls, seeing that the end was near for Vengold, on September 29, 1999, gold experienced a brief uptick in price. Taking advantage of the brief window, Telfer sold all the shares of Vengold to pay off the banks, leaving him and his shareholders with a shell company with $30 million to its name.
As Telfer describes, at the time, dot-com companies were the "flavour of the moment"
and for the sake of investors, Telfer morphed this shell company into a dot-com venture called Itemus Inc., an Internet incubator.
Itemus stock ran up from $0.06 to $5 and some investors did make money. However, lacking a sustainable revenue source, Itemus filed for bankruptcy in 2001.
Wheaton River Minerals Inc.
After a five-year lull, in 2002, the price of gold began to see a rebound. In 2001, Telfer was approached by mining financier,
Frank Giustra. At the time, gold was still trading at a low $300 an ounce level. Together, Telfer and Giustra discussed plans of re-entering the gold market and finding an appropriate investment vehicle to do so. Giustra pinpointed Wheaton River Minerals, which at the time was a shell company with $5 to $10 million and 6 employees.
Telfer and Giustra raised the capital to buy into Wheaton River, and in October 2001, Telfer became Wheaton River's chief executive officer. By December of the same year, with gold prices rebounding, Telfer began looking for gold assets to acquire and first acquired the Luismin mine in
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
for roughly $75 million in April 2002.
Over the next three years, buoyed by a gold bull market, Telfer led Wheaton River in acquiring several other gold mines. In a three-year span, Telfer guided Wheaton River from a roughly $10 million company to one with an approximately $2.4 billion valuation.
Goldcorp Inc.
In 2004, Wheaton River Minerals announced plans of merging with IamGold Corp.
When IamGold shareholders rejected the merger,
it left the door open for a different merger.
In 2004, Wheaton River merged with established Goldcorp Inc. in a $2.4-billion share swap that saw Goldcorp absorbing Wheaton River.
Following the merger, Goldcorp's board of directors appointed Telfer as Goldcorp's new chief executive officer.
In 2006, Telfer led in Goldcorp's friendly acquisition of Glamis Gold, a merger that at the time created the world's third largest gold mining company.
The new, larger company retained the Goldcorp name. The merger also shifted Telfer from chief executive officer of Goldcorp to the company's chairman.
Silver Wheaton Corp.
In April 2005, Wheaton River Minerals faced a hostile bid for its silver assets by
Coeur Mining Inc., then called Coeur d’Alene Mines.
Rather than accepting the hostile bid, Telfer led in separating off Wheaton River Minerals’ silver assets into a new company to be called Silver Wheaton Corp. Telfer was also instrumental in brainstorming the concept behind Silver Wheaton, which is a mining company that does not do any mining itself, but instead acquires silver byproduct from other mining companies that are focused on other precious metals.
In April 2006, Telfer stepped down from his role as director of Silver Wheaton Corp.
Other companies
In addition to his work with Wheaton River Minerals and Goldcorp, Telfer has founded and led other mining companies. In 2006, Telfer and Frank Giustra formed UrAsia Energy, a uranium producer operating a mine in Kazakhstan.
Telfer served as UrAsia's chairman.
In 2007, UrAsia merged with Uranium One Inc., with Telfer continuing on as Uranium One's chairman.
Telfer contributed in launching Terrane Minerals, Tahoe Resources, Peak Gold and Primero Mining.
Telfer is also the co-founder of Renaissance Oil Corp., an oil company currently developing shale and oil fields in Mexico.
Telfer launched Renaissance Oil after Mexico began privatizing its oil and gas industry.
[
]
World Gold Council
Ian Telfer served as Chairman of the World Gold Council (WGC) from 2009 to 2013.
Charitable work
Over the years, Ian Telfer has contributed to a number of philanthropic causes. In a 2011 interview, Telfer commented that because personal wealth came to him relatively late in life, it has allowed him to think beyond his own personal gain and place a higher value in philanthropic endeavors.
University of Ottawa's Telfer School of Management
In 2007, Telfer donated $25 million to th
University of Ottawa's School of Management
Recognition
Telfer has been the recipient of various awards and accolades during his professional career. In 2013, Telfer was listed in Canadian Business Magazine's "The Power 50".
Personal life
Telfer is married and has two children.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Telfer, Ian
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Businesspeople from Oxford
Businesspeople from Vancouver
University of Toronto alumni
University of Ottawa alumni
Canadian company founders
Canadian mining businesspeople