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Canada’s Barrick Gold has suspended operations in Mali after the government seized gold from the company in an escalation of a dispute between the military junta and international mining groups.
The Toronto and New York-listed company said in a statement that it had “regrettably initiated the temporary suspension of operations” at its Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex in the west African country.
It is the latest episode in a stand-off between the Malian government and international miners as the military junta, which came to power after a coup, seeks to gain a larger share of revenues from the country’s resources.
Last year, four Mali-based Barrick employees were detained by authorities and an arrest warrant was issued for veteran chief executive Mark Bristow.
Terry Holohan, the chief executive of another miner, Australia-listed Resolute Mining, and two other company executives were also detained in the country last year. The company paid the government $160mn to resolve a tax dispute that led to the arrests.
The disputes stem from a new mining code signed into law by the Malian junta in 2023 demanding a greater share of revenue from Barrick and other international mining companies active in the country.
Barrick, the world’s second-biggest gold miner by market capitalisation, said the Malian government moved the gold to a custodial bank, preventing the export and sale of the metal.
The mine, one of the country’s biggest that employs 8,000 people and accounts for between 5 and 10 per cent of Mali’s GDP, produced Barrick’s second-biggest output of gold in 2023 after mines in Nevada in the US.
Barrick has been unable to ship gold out of Mali for seven weeks, according to a company letter sent to staff over the weekend seen by the Financial Times.
The company had been warning since last month that it would be forced to shut down operations in Mali, if there was no immediate resolution to the situation.
Last year the government sought to renegotiate existing agreements under the terms of the new mining code.
Several mining groups have made deals with the authorities, but Barrick is yet to reach an agreement.
Barrick made an $85mn payment to Mali in October and is said to have received a tax bill of about $350mn in supposed back taxes, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bristow told the FT in an interview last year that he was confident of reaching a deal with the government and had received assurances that Loulo-Gounkoto was not at risk of being nationalised.
Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali are part of what is known as Africa’s “coup belt” after being taken over by military juntas between 2020 and 2023.
Additional reporting by Camilla Hodgson in London
