A small toy figure and gold imitation in front of the Barrick Gold Corp. logo on Nov. 19, 2021.Dado Ruvic/Reuters
Barrick Gold Corp. ABX-T says four of its local employees have been “unjustly imprisoned” in Mali in a second wave of arrests of its staff in the West African country where one of its biggest gold mines is located.
Mali’s military regime, which took power in a 2021 coup, has been putting pressure on foreign mining companies to give the government a bigger share of their revenue. It has been seeking US$417-million from Barrick, alleging that the company failed to pay all its required taxes – a charge the company rejects.
The military junta has increasingly been willing to arrest the managers of foreign miners to seek faster payments of disputed amounts. It arrested four of Barrick’s employees in late September, holding them in custody for several days.
This month, the Mali authorities arrested three employees of Australian-based Resolute Mining, including its chief executive officer, Terence Holohan, and held them in custody for more than a week, until the company promised to pay US$160-million to resolve a tax dispute.
Barrick has repeatedly said that it is close to reaching a deal in Mali to settle all differences, and in late September it announced what it described as an agreement with the government. But the latest arrests are a sign that the negotiations might be more difficult than Barrick has acknowledged.
Last month, the Malian government threatened to take back a part of Barrick’s biggest asset in the country, the Loulo-Gounkoto complex, which is projected to produce more than half a million ounces of gold this year. It accused Barrick of failing to fulfill its commitments to the government and it said it might allow one of the operating permits at the complex to expire.
Barrick owns 80 per cent of the complex, but the government introduced a new mining code last year that envisions the government holding ownership stakes of up to 35 per cent in Mali’s mines.
Barrick’s CEO, Mark Bristow, said this month that the company is willing to give the Malian government more than half of its economic benefits in the country.
In a statement on Tuesday, the company said it rejected the criminal charges against the four employees, who have been detained pending trial, and said it would continue to seek an agreement on sharing economic benefits.
“Our attempts to find a mutually acceptable resolution have so far been unsuccessful, but we remain committed to engage with the government in order to resolve all the claims levied against the company and its employees and secure the early release of our unjustly imprisoned colleagues,” Mr. Bristow said in the statement.
Serge Daniel, a prominent Mali-based journalist, said the four employees were senior company officials and were arrested on Monday. In a social media post, he said the employees were charged with money laundering and damaging public property.
Barrick says it has invested US$10-billion in Mali’s economy, generating 5 to 10 per cent of the country’s entire GDP annually. But its mining assets have reportedly attracted the attention of Russian companies, which have become increasingly active in Mali after the government recruited about 1,000 Russian soldiers to bolster its fight against rebel militias in northern Mali.
“Rumours that Mali, likely with Russia, wants full control of Barrick’s Loulo-Gounkoto mines are looking more credible by the day,” said Ryan Cummings, an analyst with security consultant Signal Risk, after the latest arrests were announced on Tuesday.
In an earlier analysis, he wrote: “The Malian state may be intent on making operating conditions untenable for these miners in a bid to pressure divestment and allow the state to offer concessions to organisations it deems more aligned to its political and economic agenda.”
Barrick has denied that there is any risk of nationalization at Loulo-Gounkoto.