Canadian mining company Barrick Mining Corporation has announced it had reached a comprehensive agreement settling all its disputes with the government of Mali concerning the Loulo and Gounkoto gold mines, APA learned.
According to information reported by Bloomberg, the arrangement includes a payment of $430 million (approximately 244 billion CFA francs) by Barrick to definitively resolve the financial and tax
disputes between the group and the Malian state.
In its statement, Barrick specifies that the agreement provides for the withdrawal of all proceedings and charges brought against the company, its subsidiaries, and its employees. Legal steps for the
release of the four detained employees will be initiated immediately.
The arrangement also terminates the provisional administration that had been managing the Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex. Operational control of the site will be returned to Barrick, opening a “constructive path” for the continuation of mining activities in this strategic area of western Mali.
In return, Barrick subsidiaries will withdraw the arbitration proceedings filed with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), in accordance with the terms of the settlement.
This settlement, which comes after several months of tension between Bamako and the gold mining giant, marks a major step toward stabilizing Mali’s mining sector. The authorities in Bamako hope that the normalisation of relations will help to fully restart operations at the complex, one of the country’s largest gold producers.
AC/fss/as/APA