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impressive opportunity," he says.) He also felt an overwhelming
desire for the legacy of creating a true community. The place—and
the people living there—will form a sort of "Beedie town" that may
be the key to unlocking future master-planned community devel-
opments, making Fraser Mills the template for even more expan-
sive growth across Western Canada. "The legacy piece is a big
motivator. You get to shape that community: 20, 30, 40, 50 years
from now people could be talking about us as the developers.
You can say, 'Well look, we developed that,' and that gives you
credibility as a master-plan developer."
STRIKING GOLD
If a master-planned community wasn't keeping Ryan busy enough,
another new—and rather unexpected—branch of development is
now taking up some of his bandwidth: mining. After wading into
the industry a decade ago with an old friend who was developing
a mine on Canada's East Coast (Ryan ended up as Atlantic Gold's
biggest shareholder: "We ended up buying more and more
shares"), Ryan sees the domestic gold-mining industry as "another
great opportunity." And, with that ever-moving mind, he became
the largest shareholder in Artemis Gold, which just marked
the start of commercial production at its 44-square-kilometre
Blackwater Mine, 160 kilometres southwest of Prince George.
The largest gold-mine development in central B.C. in more
than a decade, the project will be a massive economic driver in
the region (it now employs 400 people; phase two will generate
an additional 400 construction jobs, plus 170 operational jobs)
and is a partnership with six First Nations. "It's exciting to invest
in your own community. There's a reconciliation aspect too; 30
percent of our employees are from local First Nations," Ryan says.
Blackwater is a feather in Ryan's cap, not just for the jobs
it's creating and its tariff-proof domestic production, but also
because he believes the operation can set a standard for future
green mining operations. Artemis spent the extra outlay to
give Blackwater one of the sector's first fully electrified ore-
processing plants—laying a foundation for the mine to be one of the
lowest greenhouse gas-emitting open pit mines on earth, he says.
And it doesn't hurt that the price of gold is at a record high. "If
this gold price holds… much of the profit will be infused into our
charitable organizations."
THE LEGACY OF PHILANTHROPY
With the social responsibility promise "Built for Good" formalized
in their company ethos, Ryan and his wife Cindy, together with the
"The legacy
piece is a big
motivator.
You get to
shape that
community:
20, 30, 40, 50
years from
now people
could be
talking about
us as the
developers.
You can say,
'Well look, we
developed
that,' and that
gives you
credibility as
a master-plan
developer."
B U I L D I N G A N E M P I R E
