You say impossible, I say possible: Ross Beaty on mining wealth creation
“Comfortable with ambiguity,” says the sign on Pan American Silver chairman Ross Beaty’s office door. It’s a fitting mantra for the mining magnate and environmentalist: over the course of his career, he’s made billions in non renewable resources, but now devotes much of his time advocating for sustainability. “If there’s anything I can do to change the direction of global consumption, I figure I should do it as a service to my kids and the world at large,” Beaty told us in an hour-long interview on Tuesday. “Nature has a way of asserting herself, but I don’t think we should wait until it’s too late. Reducing our ecological footprint doesn’t have to reduce our quality of life — we have the knowledge to make the change. I’m just trying to help catalyze it.” Through his nonprofit, the Sitka Foundation, Beaty backs environmentally conscious organizations. Among them are UBC, the Pacific Salmon Foundation, and the David Suzuki Foundation. He also invests a large portion of his personal cap