Robert Friedland

Founder and Executive Co-Chairman Ivanhoe Mines

For more than 30 years, international financier Robert Friedland has been recognized by leaders of the international financial sector and mineral resource industries as an entrepreneurial explorer, technology innovator and company builder. 
 
Mr. Friedland’s enterprise and leadership gained prominent, industry recognition in January 2016 when he was inducted into the prestigious Canadian Mining Hall of Fame. The citation acknowledged his company-building and exploration achievements, honouring him as “a dynamic, transformative force in the Canadian and international mining industries” and “one of the most recognized mining personalities and achievers in the world”. Mr. Friedland said at the ceremony that he shared the honour with several teams of dedicated individuals whose efforts with his companies during the past 30 years had contributed to a series of notable discoveries and new mines. Housed at the University of Toronto, the Hall of Fame is featured in the Treasures from Earth galleries at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.  
 
In May 2017, Mr. Friedland received a Lifetime Achievement Award during the Canadian Mining Symposium at Canada House in London, England – a career recognition by the Northern Miner, the century-old flagship of Canada’s leading mining-industry media group. This follows the U.K.-based Mining Journal’s successive rankings of Mr. Friedland from 2016 through 2022 as one of the Top 20 Most Influential People shaping the future of the world of mining, declaring him “the undisputed king of junior development”. Also in 2016, Canada’s Financial Post Magazine named Mr. Friedland one of 25 members of its inaugural Power List – termed “the biggest, buzziest and most influential movers and shakers in Canada and beyond”.  
 
In December 2021, Mr. Friedland was inducted into the American Mining Hall of Fame in a ceremony held in Tucson, Arizona, in recognition of his outstanding lifetime achievements advancing the American and/or global mineral resources industry. The citation acknowledged Mr. Friedland as “an entrepreneurial explorer, technology innovator and company builder” and someone who “has successfully developed a portfolio of respected public and private companies whose initiatives have led to several of the world’s most significant mineral discoveries and mine developments, applications of disruptive technologies and contributions to significant economic growth in established and emerging markets in the Asia Pacific Region, Southern Africa and the Americas.” 
 
International philanthropic initiatives and engagements by the Friedland family are implemented through its San Francisco-based Friedland Foundation.  
 
Mr. Friedland holds United States and Canadian citizenship and resides in Singapore. He graduated from Reed College, in Oregon, USA, in 1974 with an undergraduate degree in political science.