Yours, Mined & Ours: Purdue grad gives mineral rights to Krannert

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — A 1956 graduate of Purdue University has given a percentage of his rights to a Canadian nickel mine to the university’s Krannert School of Business, a gift potentially worth millions of dollars.

Five years ago, Allyn Knoche made a $5 million loan to FPX Nickle, a Vancouver-based mining company. In return, Knoche receives 1% of net revenue on sales of the mined product.

According to Purdue, the mine will be able to produce about $630 million annually of nickel, meaning Knoche receives $6.3 million. One-third of that income is now earmarked for Krannert.

Knoche says he wants the money to go towards scholarships, faculty positions, research, and facilities.

“Scholarships are important because you want to help out young people,” says Knoche. “We’d like it to fund chairs in finance and research about the roles of institutions versus individuals in the stock market. A lot of work could be done on how one influences the other.”

The donor earned a degree in industrial economics from Purdue in the 1950s, before the Krannert business school even existed.

“This is a game-changing gift that will benefit countless students and scholars,” says David Hummels, dean of the Krannert School. “In addition to providing steady-state funding to important areas such as scholarships and faculty support, resources of this magnitude enable us to think bigger and imagine ways that we can transform our research and programs.”

Knoche, who is 91 years old, also gave one third to each of his sons. When those heirs die, their share will also go to Krannert, according to the university.

“The Krannert School will look back on this gift in the decades to come as one of the key moments in our history,” said Hummels.

Knoche expects the value of nickel to continue to climb as it’s used in the production of stainless steel and in batteries used to electric vehicles.