In Mali, nothing is going well between the military in power in Bamako and Barrick Gold. In a recent press release published yesterday, Tuesday, November 26, the Canadian mining company confirmed the arrest of “four employees of its Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex.” They were “indicted and detained pending trial”, she specifies, without revealing the reasons for their arrest.
“Find an amicable settlement of the dispute”
According to RFI, these local employees of the gold company are being prosecuted for “money laundering and damage to public property”. Barrick Gold says it denies these accusations.
However, he declared that he had chosen to continue working with the “Malian government to find an amicable settlement of the dispute which would ensure the long-term viability of the Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex”.
In the same press release, Marc Bristow, President and CEO of Barrick Gold, informed that his company had been seeking since September 30 to “finalize a memorandum of understanding that would guide Barrick Gold’s future partnership with the government, including the share of the State on the economic benefits generated by the complex and the legal framework within which this would be managed.
“Our colleagues (are) unjustly imprisoned”
He regrets that the multinational’s attempts to “find a mutually acceptable solution (have) so far failed”. This will not, however, prevent Barrick Gold from continuing to collaborate with the government “in order to resolve all claims made against the company and its employees and obtain the early release of our unjustly imprisoned colleagues,” he assured.
Needless to say, four Barrick Gold employees had already been arrested last September, for undisclosed reasons, before being released after several days.
Not on the same wavelength
On October 23, 2024, the Malian Minister of Mines criticized the Canadian company for breaching “commitments (made) as part of an agreement aimed at more equitably distributing the exploitation of mineral resources for the benefit of all parties stakeholders”. Barrick Gold rejected these allegations, saying it had paid the government 50 billion FCFA in early October as part of the negotiations.
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