FP says with gold price up, B2Gold finally gets respect

2020-08-27 07:06 ET - In the News

The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that for years, Clive Johnson, chief executive officer of B2gold, has been frustrated by investors and analysts who looked at his company, noticed more than half its gold came from the Fekola mine in Mali, and discounted the value of the whole enterprise as too risky. The Post's Gabriel Friedman quotes Mr. Johnson saying, "We were stuck between three and four dollars forever, despite the success of Fekola, which drove me crazy." Times have changed and so have attitudes toward gold miners now that gold has surged 22 per cent since March, to above $1,900 per ounce. So when the political risk materialized last week after a military junta toppled the government in Mali last week, and investors pushed B2gold's stock down 20 per cent in two days, Mr. Johnson hardly blinked. He was holed up in Tofino on Vancouver Island at the time, and noted his shares were still trading safely above $8, a "healthy" level. "Other gold stocks have fallen, we've fallen a little more," he said. "But listen, I've been doing this a long time -- I don't see any threat to production in Mali or anywhere." He predicted the situation would calm down, and indeed, the stock has stabilized over $8.

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