Mali resumes production at seized Barrick gold mine

OPERATIONS have restarted at Barrick Mining Corp.’s Loulo-Gounkoto gold mine in Mali following a nine-month shutdown, said Bloomberg News which cited unnamed sources.The Canadian mining company halted work at the West African facility in January after the military government blocked exports, confiscated gold and arrested senior staff. A court subsequently appointed Soumana Makadji, an accountant and former health minister, to oversee the mine for at least six months starting in June, the newswire said.Mining activity resumed late last week following an agreement to reinstate payments to contractors, which had been suspended during the operational halt, one source said.Mali’s Mines Minister Amadou Keita said in June that the provisional management would “restart operations, produce, pay the workers’ wages, but also produce gold for the national economy.”A Barrick spokesman declined to comment, whilst Makadji did not respond to enquiries. A mining ministry representative said he was unaware whether operations had resumed, adding the ministry is not involved in the mine’s management.Loulo-Gounkoto, which yielded 723,000 ounces of gold in 2024, ranks amongst Barrick’s most valuable properties, said Bloomberg News. The seizure has prevented the company from benefiting from bullion’s 60% surge this year.Shortly after assuming control, government officials arrived by helicopter and departed with one tonne of gold. Barrick says it awaits information about the seized bullion’s location and disposition.The conflict over alleged tax arrears and new mining legislation began in 2023. Competing miners Allied Gold and B2Gold have since settled similar disagreements with Malian authorities, whilst Barrick has launched arbitration proceedings and denies owing unpaid taxes.The post Mali resumes production at seized Barrick gold mine appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com