Ross Beaty flipped the laptop around and pointed its camera to the sea.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a whale-watching boat,鈥� the veteran mining entrepreneur said from Bowen Island near Vancouver. 鈥淭here鈥檚 been a whole whack of humpback whales here yesterday and today.鈥�
Beaty sounded excited, and why not? He鈥檚 got a history of drawing out big things from the deep.
Since 2017 as chairman, he鈥檚 built Equinox Gold鈥�(TSX: EQX; NYSE-AM: EQX) into a nearly 1-million-oz. annual producer with a C$3.5 billion market value. Its latest mine, Greenstone in Ontario, poured first gold in May and is ramping up to 400,000-oz. a year capacity.
That鈥檚 decades after Beaty sold one of his first companies, the similarly named Equinox Resources. Hecla Mining鈥�(NYSE: HL) bought it in 1994 for C$107 million. He immediately poured that into developing Pan American Silver (TSX: PAAS; NASDAQ: PAAS) which is the world鈥檚 second-largest silver producer by stock market value, at C$11.3 billion. He stepped down as chairman in 2021.
Along the way there鈥檚 been his Lumina group of companies and sales like copper assets to majors including First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) and Franco-Nevada (TSX: FNV; NYSE: FNV). In 2008, he formed geothermal energy company Magma Energy, eventually bought by Innergex Renewable Energy in 2018 for $1.1 billion. And there鈥檚 been a persistent shower of awards.
Trophies
They include the Association of Mineral Exploration of British Columbia鈥檚 Colin Spence Award in 2007 for excellence in global mineral exploration; the B.C. Mining Association鈥檚 Mining Person of 2008, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada鈥檚 Viola MacMillan Award in 2010 for leadership in management and financing;聽The Northern Miner鈥檚 Mining Person of 2011, the Canadian Institute of Mining鈥檚 Past President Memorial Medal, the Order of Canada in 2017, the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in 2018.
Now he鈥檚 getting聽The Northern Miner鈥檚 Lifetime Achievement Award, to be presented in London, England on Dec. 2. He鈥檒l be just back from touring Equinox鈥檚 seven other mines: Aurizona, Fazenda, Santa Luz and RDM in Brazil, Castle Mountain and Mesquite in California and Los Filos in Mexico. That followed a bicycle trip around Italy in October and a bike relay from B.C. to formally open Greenstone in late August.
Travel for business or pleasure has always been one of Beaty鈥檚 loves. It鈥檚 also exposed him to gruelling challenges that derailed some plans.
During a B.Sc. in geology in B.C. he trekked across South America and South Africa. He followed a master鈥檚 at the Royal School of Mines in London with backpacking across Africa and the Middle East to Japan.
Argentina
鈥淵ou鈥檙e young and carefree, took lots of risks, traveled hard, you know, the cheap way,鈥� Beaty said. 鈥淚 fell in love with Argentina on that trip. And then, when I started working there, my love relationship quickly turned to pure hate.鈥�
It was 1999, Beaty was trying to develop a silver mine and encountered tough unions, high taxes and inflation and a populist government making things more expensive with currency controls. The problems persist today for President Javier Milei, elected last December.
鈥淚t just made it obvious to me it was one of the most difficult places of all of Latin America to work,鈥� Beaty said. 鈥淭he current president, he鈥檚 a breath of fresh air in that sense and I hope he succeeds in taming the beast that is these unrealistic expectations that Argentines have. I hope he does. It鈥檚 a tough nut to crack.鈥�
The pressure was more overt in Russia after Putin came to power in 1999. Thugs eventually seized the one-third-built Siberian silver mine Beaty had been developing for four years.
鈥淚t just didn鈥檛 dawn on me that I might be shot,鈥� he told聽The Northern Miner聽in 2022. 鈥淚 kept going back to Russia and fighting them and fighting them. I eventually realized enough was enough.鈥�
Coups, wars
Then there was the time he was drilling in Liberia with Equinox Resources in 1985. The African nation fell into civil war, forcing Beaty to flee. Other tough stops on the globe included Bolivia and Haiti. A coup in the Caribbean nation prompted Ottawa to pull out Canadian companies just as Beaty鈥檚 project secured a licence.
鈥淎fter the travel, what it did make me realize is just how big the world is and how interesting it is, and how many people are out there who have different views and not necessarily my own,鈥� Beaty said on the Bowen Island shore. 鈥淚鈥檇 say it鈥檚 a very good thing for any entrepreneur to do, to travel a lot and to experience different realities.鈥�
Taking his geology services global, plus a law degree that sharpened his communication skills, contributed to a self-realization that raised funding. It eventually led to Equinox Resources鈥� Rosebud find in Nevada that attracted Hecla.
鈥淚 found I was a good salesman,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 could sell, not just properties that had prospects, I could also sell stock. I could tell good stories and part people with their money and then, luckily, we actually made a couple of discoveries.鈥�
Today鈥檚 market
It was a time in the 1970s when it cost Beaty just C$30,000 to list a company on the stock market including other fees. He said he鈥檚 not sure even his salesmanship could compensate today in a changed marketplace where juniors struggle to raise money.
鈥淚 was a creature of my times,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat amount is inconceivable today. Even with the value of money going down, there鈥檚 so many more rules. The Vancouver Stock exchange supported small companies and there were a lot of, they called them penny dreadfuls. It was contaminated with lots of crappy companies, lots of scams, but guys like me could actually get going. I don鈥檛 honestly know how I鈥檇 do in a market like today.鈥�
Central to Beaty鈥檚 success has been a value investor鈥檚 accrual of inexpensive properties when commodity prices are low, reaping rewards when in turn the prices for silver and copper and now gold have shot up.
鈥淵ou have to make things happen,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e had built a stable of assets and a mine in Peru, and just as we were about to go bankrupt in Peru in 2002, we had just done a desperation financing with the help of Bill Gates and some of our directors. And lo and behold, a couple months later, the silver price took off, and we haven鈥檛 looked back since.鈥�
Land stewardship
Back on Bowen Island, with whales in the distance and tales of whopping deposits in the past, Beaty reflected. Collecting rocks as a child, being tutored by a neighbourhood geology professor, working outdoors for a lifetime and seeing the world have all helped form his keen environmental interests.
Now he鈥檚 chair of the B.C. Parks Foundation with the goal of adding 10 million hectares to protected areas by 2030.
鈥淚鈥檝e always had this sort of a dual, you could almost say schizophrenic personality of digging up the earth and then trying to protect it,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 like the mining industry. We need minerals. It鈥檚 part of everyday society. It鈥檚 not something that鈥檚 going to disappear, and it鈥檚 been a very rewarding career for me.
鈥淏ut on the other hand, I鈥檝e always been interested in in the environment, in trying to protect species, and if anything, that has become more important in my life now that I have the capital to support a lot of people who are doing good things.鈥�