Douglas Balfour Silver

Douglas Balfor Silver is a prominent American economic geologist, mineral economist, and financier renowned for his significant contributions to the mining industry. He was raised in New Jersey and earned a Master's degree in economic geology from the University of Arizona. 

Silver began his career in 1980 as an exploration geologist with The Anaconda Minerals Company, where he was instrumental in discovering the Silver Creek molybdenum deposit in Colorado. He later founded Balfour Holdings, a leading mineral economics and management consulting firm, and developed comprehensive databases on mining issues, enhancing valuation techniques and due diligence processes. 

1989 Silver founded the Denver Gold Group, a premier investment forum connecting gold companies with institutional investors. He further revolutionized the mining sector by co-founding the International Royalty Corporation (IRC) in 2003, applying a royalty-based business model across various mineral commodities. Under his leadership, IRC acquired an extensive royalty portfolio, including a net smelter royalty on Labrador's Voisey's Bay nickel project, and was sold in 2010 for $749 million.

Following the sale of IRC, Silver joined Orion Resource Partners, where he built another substantial royalty portfolio that was eventually sold for $1.1 billion to Osisko Gold Royalties. He has been a prolific speaker and writer throughout his career, delivering over 130 presentations and authoring numerous articles. His contributions have been recognized with several awards, including induction into the U.S. National Mining Hall of Fame in 2018 and the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in 2023.