Arcadium shareholders approve sale to Rio Tinto
Shares of Arcadium Lithium rose about 7% in extended trading after the company said that about 98% of its shareholders had voted in favor of the sale.
Toronto-based Bedford Group/TRANSEARCH has released its 2021 report on executive and board compensation in the mining industry. The firm collected data from 276 mining companies between May and September 2021 for the 2020 year-end.
The report says the medial total compensation for CEOs ranged from C$452,500 (for companies with assets values of C$100 million) to C$9.9 million (at companies with assets over C$20 billion).
The top earning mining executive was Mark Rosenthal, the COO and former chairman and CEO of MP Materials at C$29 million, which was 16.8% higher than the top paid executive a year earlier.
Barrick Gold’s Mark Bristow came in third at C$22.9 million, behind Cleveland-Cliffs’ Laurenco Goncalves (C$23.4 million) and ahead of Freeport McMoRan’s Richard Adkerson (C$21.1 million) and Rio Tinto’s Jean-Sebastien Jacques (C$16.8 million).
Chief operating officers were also well compensated. P. Harvey of South32 received a total of C$15.6 million, followed by Barrick’s Catherine P. Raw (C$7.2 million). The next highest-earning COOs were Robert Atkinson at Newmont (C$6.7 million), Clifford Smith at Cleveland-Cliffs (C$5.5 million) and Tracy L. Porter at Commercial Metals Company (C$5.4 million).
Raw was not the highest paid female executive. That honour went to Karla R. Lewis at Reliance Steel & Aluminium who earned C$13.2 million. That was more than double the highest compensation for a woman (C$6.4 million) in the 2020 report.
The list of well-compensated chief financial officers is lead by Nucor’s James D. Frias (C$10.4 million) and then Barrick’s Graham Shuttleworth (C$9.2 million), Anglo American’s Stephen Pearce (C$8.2 million), and Freeport McMoRan’s Kathleen L. Quirk (C$8.2 million). The top five in this category also included MP Materials’ Ryan Corbet (C$7.5 million).
Vice-presidents of corporate development also play a vital role for their employers. The top five were all from Canadian miners, beginning with Geoffrey P. Gold at Kinross Gold who received C$4.5 million. The list continues with Agnico Eagle Mines’ Jean Robitaille (C$3 million), Wheaton Precious Metals’ Haytham H. Hodaly (C$2.5 million), Yamana Gold’s Gerardo Fernandez (C$2.2 million), and in fifth place, Hudbay Minerals’ Eugene Lei.
The report found that compensation for board members varied widely across the companies they covered. Typically, it includes a base retainer, committee and/or meeting fees, and equity compensation (shares and options).
The best-paid board member was Anne Giardini at K92 Mining, who received C$2.2 million. Galiano Gold paid Paul Wright C$2 million; Antofagasta paid Jean Paul Luksic C$1.3 million; Marimaca Copper paid Michael Haworth C$1.2 million; and Stuart Chambers at Anglo American received C$1.2 million.
This is Bedford’s 12th annual report covering remuneration in the mining industry, providing insights and analysis, with particular emphasis on Canadian companies. It can be downloaded here.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
