Why Friday was the end of an era in mining

Colorful mining dealmaker, Ivan Glasenberg, will retire as the head of Glencore, the huge mining giant and one of the top 500 largest public companies in the world.

Minining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae noted the change during Kitco Roundtable podcast, which was recorded on Friday. McCrae was joined by correspondent Paul Harris; editor Neils Christensen; and special guest Terry Harbort, CEO of Talisker Resources.

Ivan Glasenberg joined Glencore in April 1984 and has been CEO since January 2002. Glasenberg led the deal that saw the $90 billion merger of Glencore with Xstrata in 2013.

Glencore is one of the world’s largest globally diversified natural resource companies with 160,000 employees and contractors and $11.6 billion in earnings in 2019.

Glasenberg's successor is Gary Nagle who has held senior roles in coal and ferroalloys. Nagle is 45, Glasenberg 63.

"Glasenberg's departure will mark a shift to a new, younger leadership for the business, which, along with other mining companies, has faced increasing pressure from investors to cut carbon emissions," writes Reuters.

The roundtable also noted that Seabridge Gold expanded its footprint in B.C.'s Golden Triangle after picking up Pretium Resources' Snowfield project for $105 million. Osisko Mining made headlines with its drill result at Windfall, a project Harbort helped advance before his current role at Talisker.

Harbort was asked what decisions he made when building his company and his team.

"Our strong belief is that exploration is a science, and we need to apply that science to be successful as an exploration company," said Harbort. "A lot of companies can [be] a bit of lucky...a little bit of serendipity. We hear all those stories and we all have a bit of a joke about them, but the majority of good discoveries and teams that make multiple discoveries [are] based on systematic exploration and the application of good science."

Follow the panelists:

Neils Christensen Twitter
Paul Harris Twitter
Michael McCrae Twitter