New York, Feb 25, 2026, 08:05 ET — Premarket
- BTG rallied 6.1% Tuesday to close at $6.09, adding to a roughly 13% gain over the last two sessions.
- B2Gold’s CEO Clive Johnson is stepping down at the company’s annual meeting on June 4. CFO Mike Cinnamond will move into the top job.
- CIBC and Stifel analysts maintained their ratings, tweaking price targets following the succession news.
B2Gold Corp surged 6.1% Tuesday, reaching $6.09 after briefly hitting $6.10—pushing the shares to a fresh 52-week high. The gold miner has now rallied roughly 13% in just two sessions.
That swift decision is in focus now, with B2Gold navigating a leadership transition just as it braces for lower production and a steep rise in costs by 2026. Investors have favored the sector thanks to strong gold prices, but miners seeing their cost profiles climb can find support vanishing quickly.
B2Gold is projecting gold production in 2026 to land somewhere between 820,000 and 970,000 ounces, with all-in sustaining costs expected at $2,400 to $2,580 for each ounce sold. That figure wraps in not just operating expenses, but also the cash needed to keep the mines turning. These numbers reflect assumptions of a $5,000 gold price; for every $100 the gold price shifts, management figures the cost number moves by roughly $12 per ounce.
Gold hovered just shy of record highs Wednesday, with spot prices climbing roughly 0.5% to about $5,175 an ounce. A weaker dollar and renewed safe-haven buying fueled the move, according to Bybit analyst Han Tan, who pointed to “geopolitical and trade uncertainty,” Reuters said. Reuters
B2Gold announced Monday that CEO Clive Johnson plans to step down at the June 4 annual meeting, with CFO Mike Cinnamond set to take over the top job. Johnson, who will move into the role of chair emeritus, said, “Now is the right time to pass the torch.” B2Gold
Don DeMarco, a mining analyst with National Bank Financial, described the succession issue as “topical” and said he anticipated “a seamless transition.” According to Mining.com, DeMarco sees 2026 as a handover phase as production moves from one mine to another. MINING.COM
Brokers wasted little time adjusting their numbers. CIBC Capital Markets stuck with a neutral call but bumped its price target to $7.50, up from $6.50. Stifel Canada, on the other hand, maintained a buy and left its C$10.50 target unchanged, according to MT Newswires.
This handover comes on the heels of last week’s earnings release, which highlighted record annual revenue topping $3 billion and stuck with the quarterly dividend at 2 cents per share—shareholders of record as of March 6 will see that payout on March 19. Management flagged deferred stripping at Mali’s Fekola mine and the ongoing partial ramp-up at Canada’s Goose mine as the main influences shaping the 2026 cost outlook.
But this setup can turn quickly. Cost guidance is aggressive; a stumble at Goose, new permitting headaches in Mali, or a gold retreat could all squeeze margins and erase the recent rally.
Eyes shift to analyst notes and potential new company comments with the June 4 annual meeting looming. That’s when the CEO and CFO transitions officially land, making it the next big date circled on the calendar.
