FILE PHOTO: CEO and Director of B2Gold Clive Johnson attends the 2022 Investing in African Mining Indaba, in Cape Town, South Africa, May 10, 2022. REUTERS/Shelley Christians/File PhotoSHELLEY CHRISTIANS/Reuters
B2Gold Corp. BTO-T founder and chief executive Clive Johnson is retiring in June to focus on his family and his health, and he will be succeeded by company chief financial officer Mike Cinnamond.
Vancouver-based B2Gold said in a statement on Monday that Mr. Johnson will also relinquish his board seat to become chair emeritus, a ceremonial role that removes him from day-to-day operations.
Mr. Johnson founded B2 in 2007, about a year after he sold his earlier company, Bema Gold Corp., to Kinross Gold Corp. for US$3.1-billion. He grew B2 from a junior company with only one exploration project in Colombia to a mid-tier gold producer with four mines and an output of about one million ounces of gold a year. The company’s biggest operation, Fekola in Mali, is one of the largest gold mines in West Africa.
As gold has outperformed many other asset classes over the past year, and dozens of precious metals companies have soared in value, B2’s performance has been lacklustre. B2 has been in the lowest quartile of gold companies in the TSX Global Gold Index, which measures the share price performance of the biggest gold producers.
Mr. Johnson in an interview said performance issues had no factor in his departure and that the decision to leave was his own initiative. After 43 years in the gold industry, it is time to focus on his health and family, he added.
“For a 68-year-old ex-rugby player, I’m actually in pretty good health,” he said. “Still, I’d like to lose that pesky 20 pounds along the way here.”
Like other gold companies with exposure to Mali, B2 has been exposed to considerable volatility over the past few years after a military junta seized power in 2021. The junta introduced a new mining code and started demanding a bigger slice of the profits from gold companies in the country such as B2 and Barrick Mining Corp. While B2 managed to navigate a difficult environment more deftly than some of its peers, investors have grown increasingly wary of the geopolitical risk.
Compounding matters for the company have been difficulties at a new project in Canada, which was meant to assuage investors concerned about its exposure to West Africa. B2 in the latter half of last year significantly cut its production guidance for its Goose project in Nunavut as it encountered startup problems. B2 acquired Goose through the acquisition of Sabina Gold and Silver Corp. in 2023.
Despite the bumpy start, Mr. Johnson says the problems at Goose are fixable.
“The mill itself is running very well. The grade of the ore body and the gold recoveries are what we expected,” he said. “The issue is we inherited a poor design of a crushing plant, which we’re now fixing.”
Mr. Cinnamond, who will take over from Mr. Johnson, has been CFO since 2014. Before that he worked as an auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
“He has an Irish charm and a genuine nature that allows him to interact very well,” B2’s newly appointed executive chair, Kelvin Dushnisky, said in an interview. “He’s thoughtful, and I think he’s going to transition very nicely into the role.”
Mr. Dushnisky was promoted to executive chair from chair on Monday, the company said in its release. In his new position, he’ll have more of a direct hand in the management of the business, in addition to his oversight of the board.
“I’ll be an additional resource for Mike, and management, and support the team on corporate strategy, and managing key stakeholder relationships,” he said.
Before joining B2’s board, Mr. Dushnisky served as CEO of AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., and earlier he was Barrick Mining’s president for several years.
Meanwhile, Greg Barnes, a former long-time mining analyst for TD Securities, was appointed lead independent director of B2 effective Monday. Mr. Barnes has been on B2’s board since 2024 and is chair of its compensation committee.