Wheaton Precious Metals establishes UBC Professorship in Mine Economics and Innovation
UBC has never had a professor dedicated exclusively to mine economics and finance.
To help address this gap, industry experts like Wes Carson, the Vice President, Mining Operations at Wheaton Precious Metals, have served as guest lecturers in UBC courses on the subject, teaching the occasional class over the years.
Now, Wheaton Precious Metals, long recognized for its innovative approach to mining finance, has launched the Wheaton Professorship in Mine Economics and Innovation. For the first time in its history, the Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering (NBKI) can offer courses taught by an expert in this evolving, increasingly critical field.
“Mine economics is something that is really underrepresented in mining education,” says Wes Carson (BASc. mining and mineral process engineering, ‘2000), a member of the UBC Mining Engineering Industry Advisory Council. “But now UBC has an expert who can talk specifically about the business of mining and what that means, and how companies can grow in an innovative way.”
The Wheaton professorship not only underscores the increasing importance of mining finance but also the need for more sustainable, forward-thinking practices to support the industry’s long-term future.
“Like Wheaton itself, this UBC professorship takes mining economics to the next level of complexity,” says Marek Pawlik, head of NBKI. “It will introduce new business models and valuation schemes that have never been considered before in an educational context.”
Consider the streaming model pioneered by Wheaton. The company doesn’t own or operate any mines; rather, it provides upfront capital to a partner mining company. In return, Wheaton acquires the right to purchase a portion of the precious metals extracted, typically for the life of the mine. Often a by-product of copper, zinc, lead and even silver from a gold mine, the streamed metal is bought at a price fixed by contract, generally at or below the market or “spot price.”
“There’s not a single CFO in the entire mining sector now who doesn’t consider streaming as a source of capital to help build and invest in growth,” says Randy Smallwood, CEO of Wheaton Precious Metals (BASc. Geological Engineering ’95).
“And this professorship brings full circle what we helped create, an approach to mining finance that, while now well-established, remains uniquely transformative in the industry.”
Streaming the Future of Precious Metals
When Wheaton River initiated the first streaming deal, back when the process had no name, it was just “a weekend project.” In 2004, Silver Wheaton was spun off from Wheaton River Minerals as a streaming company focused solely on silver, just ahead of Wheaton River merging into a new, larger Goldcorp.
Silver Wheaton’s first asset was Goldcorp’s San Dimas Mine, a silver and gold mine bordering Mexico’s Durango and Sinaloa states and considered one of the most significant precious metals deposits in Mexico.
“Every company in the mining world that produced by-product silver noticed how Goldcorp had monetized that by-product silver value. And so, every once in a while, the phone would ring,” Randy says, “and someone would call asking if we’d like to do a silver stream.”
He received the first call from George Brack, now Wheaton’s Chair of the Board, but then a banker representing Lukas Lundin, the Swedish-Canadian Chair of Lundin Mining. At that time, Lundin had bought a Swedish zinc mine that had produced by-product silver. Aware of the deal Goldcorp had struck in Mexico, they asked Randy if he’d be interested in buying the silver.
“I thought, wow, so there is outside interest in this,” Randy says.
The phone kept ringing, and by 2007, Randy left Goldcorp to work full-time at Silver Wheaton and ultimately, four years later, became CEO and President. In 2017, reflecting the growth of streaming opportunities in gold, Silver Wheaton rebranded as Wheaton Precious Metals to better represent its diversified gold and silver portfolio. Today, Wheaton has 23 operating mines and 25 development projects across five continents.
“We pioneered this model, and now it's universally recognized as a competitive source of capital for the mining industry,” Randy says. “So, this professorship in mine economics just fits."
"Students will have the opportunity to understand that the status quo doesn't have to be the status quo," Randy adds. "Don't be scared to step outside of the box and look, test, and try different approaches. After all, it took us three years to truly realize the value of what we had created.”
The professorship will introduce students to innovative new business models and help them challenge the status quo. Courses in mine economics will address questions such as: How do you introduce new business models and incorporate them into financial schemes? What are the risks of adopting new technologies? How do you measure ESG (environmental, social, and governance) performance, risks and impacts of a business?
Wheaton, Wes points out, has a longstanding commitment to supporting the communities where the company and its mining partners operate. The Community Investment Program supports hundreds of programs globally, both at the local level in Vancouver and the Cayman Islands, and in regions such as Brazil, Mexico and Peru—helping to address poverty, strengthen educational resources, and improve access to healthcare.
The company has also launched an annual Future of Mining Challenge, which “supports innovative, scalable technologies in the mining industry,” awarding US$1M to the winning venture to help advance those technologies toward commercialization. “This is the kind of innovation we’re backing,” Wes says, pointing out that this year, the challenge was awarded to Cetos Water to advance its pioneering temperature swing solvent extraction technology, which separates freshwater from hypersaline or contaminated waters.
“If there’s one accomplishment that I’m especially proud of,” Randy says, “it’s helping shift the industry mindset. Today, traditional royalty companies are contributing to community programs around mine sites—and that momentum has extended to service providers as well. We should all remember this: just because we don’t operate the mine doesn’t absolve us of our responsibility to deliver lasting, sustainable benefits to the communities and neighbours around it.”
The Wheaton professorship, Marek says, will help the next generation of professionals find new ways to reduce impacts and also cover increasingly relevant topics, such as decarbonizing the supply chain and making it more resilient in Canada’s new economic reality.
“The education around mine economics is really critical right now, considering today’s geopolitics,” Marek says. “Call it economic literacy.”
