Mali hearing on Barrick's Loulo-Gounkoto mines postponed to May 22

A Malian court hearing scheduled for Thursday on whether to put Barrick Mining's Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex under provisional administration has been postponed to May 22, the president of the court said on Thursday.

Barrick Mining, previously called Barrick Gold, and Mali's government have been at odds since 2023 over the implementation of a new mining code that raises taxes and gives Mali's government a greater share in the gold mines.

Mali's military government, like others in West Africa, says it wants to increase its revenue from the mining sector as it believes current arrangements are unfair and foreign multinationals must comply with its demands if they want to keep operating in the gold-rich country.

Barrick says it has invested heavily in the Malian economy over more than 20 years and accuses the government of moving its goal posts and asking for more money, as well as unfairly detaining some of its executives in an attempt to blackmail the company.

Most other multinational mining companies in Mali have agreed to the new code. Australia's Resolute Mining reached an agreement after its chief executive was detained for over a week in Mali.

On Thursday Bamako's Tribunal de Commerce court was due to consider a request by the Malian state, which holds a 20% stake in the Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex, to put the mines under a provisional administration.

The aim of the request is to restart operations at the complex, which have been suspended for months, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Granting the request would represent a major escalation of the dispute between the West African state and the Canadian miner.

Operations at the mines were halted in mid-January after the government seized around three metric tons of gold worth some $317m (R5.72bn) at last week's price, accusing the company of not fulfilling its tax obligations. The government had been blocking Barrick's gold exports since early November.

Barrick denies any wrongdoing.

In its May 7 earnings update, Barrick said it had on April 17 received a notice from the government threatening to impose provisional management unless the mines resumed operations by April 20.

Barrick has said it can only resume operations when the Malian government removes restrictions on gold exports.

The latest development comes as the two sides negotiate a memorandum of understanding to resolve the dispute.

Barrick CEO Mark Bristow told Reuters this month that the two sides had previously come close to reaching an agreement three times.

Reuters