TNM names 2025 award winners: Clive Johnson, Bruno Lemelin and Pierre Lassonde

The Northern Miner has chosen Clive Johnson, CEO of B2Gold (TSX: BTO; NYSE-A: BTG), as its Person of the Year for 2025. Bruno Lemelin, chief operating officer of Iamgold (TSX: IMG; NYSE: IAG), has been named Operator of the Year in the second edition of the EY-sponsored category.

Pierre Lassonde, a founder of Franco-Nevada (TSX, NYSE: FNV) and a former president of Newmont (NYSE: NEM, TSX: NGT), is this year’s recipient of TNM’s Lifetime Achievement award. 

The awards will be presented at TNM’s International Mining Symposium in London, Nov. 30 to Dec. 1, 2025. 

Person of the Year

Johnson is being honoured for bringing the Goose mine into production in the Canadian Arctic and navigating the shifting sands of junta-led Mali where the company maintained production at Fekola.

He has served as a director at the company since December 2006 and became its CEO four months later. Under his leadership, B2Gold evolved from a junior exploration outfit into a mature, mid-tier gold producer with multiple international operations including in Namibia and the Philippines.

Goose in Nunavut achieved commercial production just three months after its first gold pour — making it the company’s first producing mine in Canada. The company expects Goose to generate 80,000 to 110,000 oz. of gold in its partial first year, contributing meaningfully to its full-year forecasts. Management views Goose as a cornerstone for its Canadian growth and sees scope for further expansion of throughput and underground options.

At Fekola, the mine’s all-in sustaining costs came in lower than expected thanks to reduced sustaining capital and favorable operating efficiencies, even as royalty payments rose under the new regime’s terms.

Last year, The Northern Miner noted Johnson’s “reputation for making successful bets on geologically promising jurisdictions that make others nervous.”

Operator of the Year

Lemelin is the recipient of the Operator of the Year award for his role as COO in pushing forward production at Iamgold’s Côté mine in northern Ontario. It reached nameplate capacity in June and is set to become one of Canada’s top gold producers.

The award winner had been promoted to COO in September 2023 and quickly started shaping a productivity model that integrated the mine’s autonomous fleet. First gold was poured in March 2024 and commercial production was reached in August.

By the second quarter of 2025, his leadership was helping maintain a production rate of 40,000 tonnes per day while he trained operators to optimize the mill and rolled out debottlenecking plans.

On June 23, the company confirmed the processing plant had been running at about 36,000 tonnes per day for more than 30 consecutive days. Its nameplate milestone translates to 360,000 to 400,000 oz. of production this year for Côté, a range that could make it Iamgold’s second highest producer behind its Essakane mine in Burkina Faso. That forecast would also rank Côté among Canada’s top five producing gold mines.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Lassonde is a towering figure in Canadian mining largely because he helped create the modern royalty/streaming model that reshaped how mining is financed and how risk is shared. In 1982, he co-founded Franco-Nevada with Seymour Schulich, applying the royalty concept (long used in oil and gas) to precious metals — a move that allowed investors to gain exposure to mining upside without bearing operational risk.

Over two decades, Franco-Nevada delivered compounded annual returns of about 36% to shareholders. It demonstrated how royalty structures could unlock value in the mining sector in a new way.

When Newmont acquired Franco-Nevada in 2002, Lassonde took on executive leadership at the world’s largest gold producer, becoming company president. His stewardship during that period helped integrate royalty philosophies into a major producer, and expanded the scope of what mining companies could do with capital allocation, risk management and portfolio strategy. That leadership amplified Canada’s influence in global mining finance and elevated the role of the Canadian mining investment community.

Beyond his strategic and operational roles, Lassonde has been a generous and transformative philanthropist in Canadian mining education, research and institutional capacity. He has endowed mining chairs and programs (for example, at the University of Toronto’s Lassonde Institute), supported scholarships, and invested in the next generation of engineers and geoscientists.

His belief – frequently expressed – that a country’s greatest resource is its people rather than its minerals has guided much of his giving and mentorship.

– With files from Blair McBride.