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Canada’s Barrick Gold on Monday said it might have to suspend its operations in Mali amid a dispute that has led to the detention of four employees and the issue of an arrest warrant for its chief executive.
The threat to halt operations is the latest development in a stand-off between the Malian government and international miners as the government seeks to gain a larger share of revenues from the country’s natural resources.
Barrick said its Loulo-Gounkoto mine complex in Mali employed 8,000 people and accounted for between 5 and 10 per cent of the country’s GDP.
The company said at the end of September that it was in negotiations to resolve “existing claims and disputes” between the government and Barrick’s Loulo and Gounkoto gold-mining companies. This followed the brief arrest of four employees over the government’s demand for payment of $500mn in taxes. The issues remained unresolved and the four employees were rearrested on November 25 pending trial.
The stand-off escalated further on December 5 when Mali issued an arrest warrant for Mark Bristow, Barrick’s chief executive.
Barrick said on Monday that it had so far been unsuccessful in finding a resolution “despite numerous good-faith attempts to negotiate”.
The government has sought higher payments from holders of long-standing mining concessions, in line with a new mining law passed in 2023.
The chief executive of another miner, Australia-listed Resolute Mining, was detained in Mali in November. The company paid the government $160mn to resolve the tax dispute that led to the arrest.
Barrick said on Monday that its proposals to resolve the dispute had not been meaningfully considered and had been rejected.
“Local operating conditions have deteriorated significantly with employees imprisoned without cause and gold shipments blocked,” the company said. “If shipments remain suspended, Barrick will be compelled to suspend operations, further impacting the viability of this critical economic driver for Mali.”
The miner added that its executives had been imprisoned on “unfounded charges” and that the government had also taken “concerning actions”, such as “baseless tax and customs claims” and the issuing of the warrant for Bristow’s arrest.
“These actions raise serious concerns about the misuse of the criminal justice system,” the company said.
Mali’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Barrick’s claims.
One person familiar with the company’s operations said the blocking of shipments would be a “red line” for Barrick. Even when there had been a coup in 2012 and other trade was blocked, Barrick successfully applied for special permission to continue gold shipments.
Bristow said on Monday that Barrick wanted to resolve the dispute, adding the company had been a “committed partner” to Mali for almost three decades.
“Recent developments further erode investor confidence in Mali’s mining sector and will deter future investment,” he said. “Nonetheless . . . we remain open to constructive engagement with the government to resolve these issues while protecting the viability of this key economic driver for Mali.”
Barrick, which is listed in both Toronto and New York, was down 1.4 per cent in New York morning trading, at $16.54.
