The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that B2Gold founder and chief executive officer Clive Johnson, 68, is retiring in June and he will be succeeded by chief financial officer Mike Cinnamond. The Globe's Niall McGee writes that 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, to Kinross Gold for $3.1-billion (U.S.). He developed B2Gold from a junior company with only one exploration project in Colombia to a mid-tier gold producer with four mines and an output of a million ounces a year. The company's biggest operation, Fekola in Mali, a West African country seized in a 2021 military coup. 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. Mr. Johnson told The Globe that performance issues had no factor in his departure and that the decision to leave was his own. After 43 years in the gold industry, it is time to focus on health and family, he added.