The top earning mining executive was Mark Rosenthal, the COO and former chairman and CEO of MP Materials at $29 million, which was 16.8% higher than the top paid executive a year earlier.
Barrick Gold’s Mark Bristow came in third at $22.9 million, behind Cleveland-Cliffs’ Laurenco Goncalves ($23.4 million) and ahead of Freeport McMoRan’s Richard Adkerson ($21.1 million) and Rio Tinto’s Jean-Sebastien Jacques ($16.8 million).
Chief operating officers were also well compensated. P. Harvey of South32 received a total of $15.6 million, followed by Barrick’s Catherine P. Raw ($7.2 million). The next highest-earning COOs were Robert Atkinson at Newmont ($6.7 million), Clifford Smith at Cleveland-Cliffs ($5.5 million) and Tracy L. Porter at Commercial Metals Company ($5.4 million).
Porter was not the highest paid female executive. That honour went to Karla R. Lewis at Reliance Steel & Aluminium who earned $13.2 million. That was more than double the highest compensation for a woman ($6.4 million) in the 2020 report.
The list of well-compensated chief financial officers is lead by Nucor’s James D. Frias ($10.4 million) and then Barrick’s Graham Shuttleworth ($9.2 million), Anglo American’s Stephen Pearce ($8.2 million), and Freeport McMoRan’s Kathleen L. Quirk ($8.2 million). The top five in this category also included MP Materials’ Ryan Corbet ($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 $4.5 million. The list continues with Agnico Eagle Mines’ Jean Robitaille ($3 million), Wheaton Precious Metals’ Haytham H. Hodaly ($2.5 million), Yamana Gold’s Gerardo Fernandez ($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 $2.2 million. Galiano Gold paid Paul Wright $2 million; Antofagasta paid Jean Paul Luksic $1.3 million; Marimaca Copper paid Michael Haworth $1.2 million; and Stuart Chambers at Anglo American received $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 for free at www.BedfordGroup.com/compensation/compensation-reports.
