Mali selling gold from mine seized from Canadian firm

This photo taken on Monday Jan. 22, 2020 shows the gold mine digs in Kidal, Mali. (AP Photo/Baba Ahmed)

Authorities in junta-led Mali are selling gold from a major mine seized from Canadian firm Barrick last month, with the aim of restarting operations, official sources told AFP Thursday.

A court ruled in June that the western Loulo-Gounkoto mine, one of the world’s largest gold complexes, would be managed for six months by a government appointed official instead of the Toronto-based firm.

No mining had taken place at Loulo-Gounkoto since January when Malian authorities seized some three tonnes of gold from the mine’s reserves.

The new administrator is selling some gold stock to finance the restarting of operations, an economy ministry source told AFP.

The Malian government and Barrick have been at loggerheads as Bamako attempts to assert greater control of its riches, including by raising royalties from foreign miners.

Mali authorities have accused Barrick of failing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.

A mining ministry source told AFP the gold sale is part of an attempt by the new administrator to manage financial issues including salary arrears.

The sources did not indicate how much gold has been sold.

Barrick has an 80 per cent stake in the Loulo-Gounkoto complex, while the Malian state holds the rest.

“While Barrick’s subsidiaries remain the legal owners of the mine, operational control has been transferred to an external administrator”, Barrick confirmed last month following the court decision.

It said arbitration had started through the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a World Bank arbitration panel.

One of the poorest countries in the world, Mali is ruled by a junta which came to power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.

Loulo-Gounkoto, in western Mali near the border with Senegal, was opened two decades ago and the first gold from underground operations was produced in 2011.

According to the trade publication Mining Technology, the mine contributed around $1 billion to the Malian economy in 2023.