Barrick confirms suspension of Mali mine after gold seized
BARRICK Gold confirmed on Tuesday it had suspended production at its Loulo-Gounkoto mine in Mali after authorities seized gold stock.“As a result, Barrick has regrettably initiated the temporary suspension of operations while it continues to work towards a resolution,” it said in a statement reported by Reuters. The newswire said on Monday the stock was worth about $245m.The gold stock was flown out by helicopter to the state-owned Banque Malienne de Solidarité (BMS) in the capital Bamako, according to reports.The suspension was a long time coming after CEO Mark Bristow warned of it last year. Then on January 6, Barrick announced it would have “no choice” but to temporarily suspend Loulo-Gounkoto if Mali’s government failed to lift new restrictions placed on the Mali mine “within the coming week”.In December, Mali’s military junta imposed an export blockade on gold shipments from Loulo-Gounkoto, a 510,000 to 560,000 ounce a year operation which is considered one of Barrick’s tier one mines. This followed the issue by the government of a warrant for arrest of Bristow.The events are a major blow for Barrick as Loulo-Gounkoto accounts for around 14% of its 2025 estimated gold output.According to the Financial Times, Mamou Touré, a former Randgold executive who worked for Bristow, has been working on negotiations between Barrick and the Mali government.The newspaper cited a western mining executive as saying Touré had convinced the Malian junta he could extract more money and concessions from the mining groups.Finance minister Alousséni Sanou told parliament last week Mali was set to earn $1.2bn in the first quarter of the year following the revision of its mining laws.The post Barrick confirms suspension of Mali mine after gold seized appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com
Quelle: Mining.com
