Robert Friedland

Friedland operates Ivanhoe Capital from its corporate headquarters in Singapore – a location that has facilitated his focus on the Asia Pacific region.

Friedland was CEO of Canada-based Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (IVN: TSX, NYSE & NASDAQ), which he founded in 1994 and led to a successful initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1996. He was chairman, and later executive chairman, until 2011. Exploration by Ivanhoe Mines since 2000 has discovered a chain of copper, gold and silver deposits at Oyu Tolgoi (Turquoise Hill) in Mongolia's South Gobi region. The first phase of what is independently projected to be one of the world's largest porphyry copper and gold mines is under construction at Oyu Tolgoi and is expected to begin commercial production in 2013. Ivanhoe Mines has discovered copper deposits in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Friedland was chairman of Galactic Resources, which operated Summitville mine, from 1984 until 1990. This mine closed in 1992.

Robert Friedland was born in Chicago, Illinois, the eldest of three children born to immigrant parents Ilona (née Muller) and Albert Friedland. Friedland's father survived three years in Auschwitz while his mother worked as a forced laborer during the Holocaust. He resigned from Bowdoin College in 1970 after being arrested by federal authorities for the possession of an estimated $100,000 worth of LSD, a crime for which he was sentenced to two years in federal prison, but received early release on probation. He graduated in 1974 from Reed College, Oregon, with a political science degree. His senior year at Reed, Friedland was student body president. During his time at Reed he met Steve Jobs with whom he shared an interest in Eastern spirituality. At the time, Friedland served as the caretaker of an apple farm south of Portland that was owned by his millionaire uncle Marcel Muller and Jobs would come on the weekends and help with the apple orchard, which served as the inspiration for the name of his company, Apple Inc. Friedland turned the orchard into a commune called All One Farm. His followers were not paid for working on commercial endeavors there.

Robert Martin Friedland (August 18, 1950) is an American/Canadian billionaire financier in the mining industry. Since the early 1980s, he has specialized in securing funding for the exploration and development of mineral and energy resources and technology ventures. He is the founder and chairman of his private, family-owned firm, Ivanhoe Capital Corporation, which is active in capital markets, focused on emerging markets. He is the founder of Ivanhoe Mines – a Canadian public company listed on the New York, NASDAQ and Toronto exchanges.