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Robert Friedland is in the vanguard of North American natural-resource sector leaders who have pioneered business links in Greater China and the Asia Pacific region during the past 20 years. One of the mining industry's best-known international financiers Mr. Friedland is the founder and Executive Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines a Canadian public company whose shares trade on the New York NASDAQ and Toronto exchanges.
Mr. Friedland has directed the assembly by Ivanhoe Mines of a portfolio of interests in several countries during the past 12 years. Ivanhoe's core asset is the chain of copper-gold discoveries at Oyu Tolgoi in southern Mongolia within 80 kilometres of the China border. Oyu Tolgoi the world's largest and highest-grade copper-gold mine development project currently is projected to begin production in 2009-2010.
In October 2006 Ivanhoe announced the formation of a strategic partnership with global mining leader Rio Tinto to develop the Oyu Tolgoi mining complex. Rio Tinto has paid US$303 million for an initial 9.9% stake in Ivanhoe which Rio Tinto may increase to up to 33.3% through a total investment of US$1.5 billion. Ivanhoe also has secured well in excess of US$700 million in equity financings since drilling its initial discovery hole at Oyu Tolgoi in mid-2001.
Mr. Friedland was named the "2006 Mining Person of the Year" by Canada's Northern Miner a leading industry publication for his coup in gaining Rio Tinto as a partner for Ivanhoe Mines in Mongolia. The Northern Miner said the partnership was "a defining moment in one of the world's biggest mineral-development success stories of the past decade." It described Mr. Friedland as "a dynamic force for a quarter-century in the minerals industry through a host of private and public-company vehicles."
Ivanhoe's major coal discoveries as part of the Ovoot Tolgoi Project --- adjacent to the existing Nariin Sukhait Mine in southern Mongolia 40 kilometres north of the China border --- have been transferred to SouthGobi Energy Resources and could be in production in 2007. Ivanhoe also has discovered a series of related iron-oxide copper-gold systems some with associated uranium at its Cloncurry Project in Australia's Mount Isa mining district and is exploring in China's Inner Mongolia region.
In March 2005 Mr. Friedland signed a strategic-alliance agreement with Mitsui & Co. Ltd. one of Japan's leading trading companies to jointly develop coal and copper-gold projects in Mongolia's South Gobi region and to deliver related transportation electrical energy and other infrastructure services to support future development in the region. In 2004 Mr. Friedland completed memoranda of understanding with Jiangxi Copper Co. and China Non-Ferrous Metals Corporation to cooperate on copper developments in the Greater China region. In 2003 Mr. Friedland and China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) formally agreed to pursue international projects to help China meet its rapidly growing demand for metals and energy.P>
As Co-Chairman and controlling shareholder of Ivanhoe Nickel & Platinum Ltd. (Ivanplats) Mr. Friedland is closely involved with several mining projects in Africa and Australia including a copper-cobalt discovery in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the development of a significant nickel-platinum-copper deposit on South Africa's Bushveld Complex.
Mr. Friedland has been associated with resource and technology ventures for more than 20 years. In 1996 he was named Developer of the Year by the Prospectors' and Developers' Association of Canada for his work in establishing and financing companies engaged in mineral exploration and development around the world. Mr. Friedland guided the development and sale of Diamond Fields Resources' nickel discovery at Voisey's Bay in Newfoundland Canada to INCO Ltd. for CDN$4.3 billion in 1996 (Inco's Voisey's Bay mine began production in September 2005). He also led the discovery and sale of Fairbanks Gold's Fort Knox deposit in Alaska to Amax Gold for US$152 million in 1992 (Fort Knox now owned by Kinross Gold has produced approximately four million ounces of gold since 1996).
Mr. Friedland is Chairman of Ivanhoe Capital Corporation his family's private company that specializes in venture capital and project financing from bases in Singapore and Beijing. With his leadership Ivanhoe executives and affiliated benefiting companies have raised several billion dollars on international capital markets since 1993.
He is co-founder and Deputy Chairman Capital Markets of oil and gas producer Ivanhoe Energy and Co-Chairman of its China operating subsidiary Sunwing Energy. Ivanhoe Energy owns a breakthrough upgrading technology that enables the recovery of heavy-oil reserves around the world and their conversion to lighter more valuable crude oil at lower costs than older technologies. | 