Directors and Management
The B2Gold management team possess over 100 years of collective industry experience at Bema alone, and has been very successful from exploration, to financing, to developing and operating mines throughout the world. Over the course of Bema’s 25 year history, the Company raised approximately Cdn$750 million in equity and Cdn$782 million in project debt financings, discovered 32.7 million ounces gold, 6 billion pounds copper and 56.3 million ounces silver and created thousands of jobs worldwide. In February 2007, Bema and Kinross Gold Corporation completed a plan of arrangement whereby Kinross purchased all of the outstanding shares of Bema, valuing Bema at over Cdn$3.5 billion
Management
- Clive T. Johnson – President, Chief Executive Officer & Director
Clive Johnson was involved with Bema and its predecessor companies since 1977. When Bema was created by the amalgamation of three Bema group companies in 1988, Mr. Johnson became the Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Johnson was instrumental in Bema’s transition from a junior exploration Company to an international intermediate gold producer. Bema had producing gold mines in Russia, Chile and South Africa and development projects in Russia and Chile. In February 2007, Bema and Kinross Gold Corporation completed a plan of arrangement whereby Kinross purchased all of the outstanding shares of Bema, valuing Bema at over CdN$3.5 billion.
- Roger Richer – Secretary, Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Roger Richer has over 20 years experience in mining law, corporate finance and international business transactions and practices. He has BA and LLB degrees from the University of Victoria. Mr. Richer was with Bema since its inception in 1988. President of Consolidated Puma Minerals Corp., a TSX-V listed company.
- Mark Corra – Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer
Mark Corra has spent over 25 years in the gold mining industry. His first 11 years were with Placer Dome before joining Bema Gold in 1990 as Controller and later becoming the Vice President of Finance and acting Chief Financial Officer. A Certified Management Accountant, with a diploma in Financial Management from the BC Institute of Technology he is responsible for B2Gold’s financial reporting, cash management, tax planning and acquisition evaluations. While with Bema, Mr. Corra was instrumental in arranging several project financings for construction of mines in Chile and Russia. The Kupol project syndicated debt financing of US$425 million was the largest gold project financing ever completed and was voted the mine finance deal of the year by Project Finance International in 2005.
- Tom Garagan – Senior Vice President of Exploration
Tom Garagan is a 1980 geology graduate from the University of Ottawa. He has worked in North and South America, East and West Africa and Russia. Mr. Garagan was with Bema since 1991 and was appointed Vice President of Exploration in 1996. Mr. Garagan was instrumental in several discoveries, including the Cerro Casale and Kupol deposits.
- Dennis Stansbury – Senior Vice President of Production and Development
Dennis Stansbury is a mining engineer with over 32 years of engineering, production and management experience at surface and underground mines. After working for a number of gold mining companies in South America and the United States, he joined Bema as Vice President South America in 1994 and was appointed Vice President Production and Development in 1996.
- George Johnson - Senior Vice President of Operations
George Johnson has many years of experience in underground and open pit mine construction and operations management. He joined Bema Gold in 1999 after 28 years with Hecla Mining Company and following the takeover of Bema by Kinross Gold he managed the construction and completion of the of the Kupol project in Northeastern Russia. He has a degree in mining engineering from the University of Washington.
- Ian MacLean – Vice President of Investor Relations
Ian MacLean began his Investor Relations career in 1996 with Nevsun Resources. In 2001 Mr. MacLean joined Bema as the Manager of Investor Relations and was appointed Vice President Investor Relations in 2006. Mr. MacLean has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
Directors
- Robert Cross – Chairman
Robert Cross has more than 20 years of experience as a financier in the Mining and Oil & Gas sectors. He has served as a director of numerous public and private companies. He is Non-Executive Chairman of Northern Orion Resources Inc., and Founder and Non-Executive Chairman of Bankers Petroleum Ltd. Between 1996 and 1998, he was Chairman and CEO of Yorkton Securities Inc. From 1987 to 1994, he was a Partner — Investment Banking with Gordon Capital Corporation in Toronto. He has an Engineering Degree from the University of Waterloo (1982), and received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1987.
Robert Gayton is a Chartered Accountant and has acted as a consultant to various public companies since 1987. He was Vice President of Finance with Western Silver Corporation from 1995 to 2004 and was a director of Western Silver Corporation (2004 – 2006), Bema Gold Corporation (2003-2007) and Doublestar Resources (2000 – 2007), each of which were “taken over”. Mr. Gayton is currently a director of Nevsun Resources Ltd., Northern Orion Resources Inc., Amerigo Resources Limited, Intrinsyc Software International, Inc., Canadian Zinc Corporation, Palo Duro Energy Inc., Quarterra Resources Inc. and Western Copper Corp.
Jerry Korpan has been an investment banker in London, England since 1985. He is currently Executive Director of Emergis Capital S.A., a property development company based in Antwerp, Belgium, and Executive Vice President of Bema affiliate, Consolidated Puma Minerals Corp. Prior to forming Emergis, he was Managing Director of Yorkton Securities in London, England. He was a director of Bema from 2002 to 2007.
Dr. Barry Rayment is a mining geologist with 35 years experience in base and precious metal exploration and development. Dr. Rayment obtained his Ph.D. in Mining Geology at the Royal School of Mines, London. Formerly an exploration manager for Gold Fields Mining and Amselco, Vice President of Glamis Gold and President of Bema Gold Corporation, he is currently President of Mining Assets Corporation, a private company providing consulting services to the mining industry, based in Laguna Beach, California.
John Ivany retired from Kinross Gold Corporation in 2006 having served as Executive Vice President since 1995. Prior to this Mr. Ivany held executive positions with several resource companies including Noranda Inc., Hemlo Gold Mines Ltd., Prime Resources Corp. and International Corona Corporation. He is currently a director of Allied Nevada Gold Corp. and Breakwater Resources Ltd.
Peter was formerly the President and CEO of Central Sun Mining and previously, Vice President Operations and Chief Operating Officer of Desert Sun Mining Corp. He was responsible for developing the Jacobina Mine in Brazil into a 4,200-tonne-per-day mining operation. Peter has more than 20 years of progressive managerial experience in the mining industry. A professional mining engineer, Peter also holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. He was recognized for his work in 2005 by receiving the Mining Journal’s “Mine Manager of the Year” award.
Bruce Humphrey has more than 30 years experience in the mining industry with such major companies as Inco, Cominco and Noranda. Most recently, as President and CEO of Desert Sun, he was responsible for the successful development of the Jacobina Mine in Brazil. From 1998-2004, Mr. Humphrey was COO of Goldcorp during the re-development of its high-grade Red Lake mine.
