DAKAR: Mali’s junta has begun seizing gold stocks from the Loulo-Gounkoto mine operated by Canadian firm Barrick Gold, according to a security source and an internal company memo said on Monday.

Since coming to power in a 2020 coup, Mali’s military rulers have promised a fairer distribution of revenue from the lucrative mining industry in the country, stepping up pressure on foreign firms in recent months.

Barrick Gold and the Malian state have been at loggerheads over the underground and open-pit Loulo-Gounkoto site in the country’s west — one of the world’s largest gold complexes.

Authorities began enforcing a provisional order to seize gold stock at the site on Saturday, Barrick Gold said in a note to local staff. The junta had days earlier issued an interim attachment order against the existing gold stock on site.

Malian authorities sent a helicopter to Loulo-Gounkoto on Saturday to make the seizure, a security official said. When questioned, Barrick Gold referred to a previous statement. The Canadian firm owns 80 per cent of the Loulo-Gounkoto mine, with Mali retaining the rest. The junta has been blocking shipments from the site for more than seven weeks. Last Monday, Barrick Gold said it would be forced to temporarily suspend operations at Loulo-Gounkoto if junta-imposed restrictions were not resolved within the week.

The company reiterated the possibility of halting operations in its internal memo. Authorities charged and detained four Malian employees of Barrick Gold in late November. In December, they issued national arrest warrants for the company’s South African CEO and the Malian managing director of Loulo-Gounkoto for “money laundering”.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2025