(Reuters) -Canada’s Barrick Gold on Tuesday confirmed it had suspended operations in Mali and that the government had moved gold stock from the miner’s Loulo-Gounkoto site to a bank.
Reuters reported on Monday that the authorities had seized gold worth $245 million in an escalation of their long-running dispute with the company.
“As a result, Barrick has regrettably initiated the temporary suspension of operations while it continues to work towards a resolution,” it said in a statement.
Barrick did not say what amount of gold had been seized.
Malian officials did not reply to requests for immediate comment.
(Reporting by Tanay Dhumal in Bengaluru; writing by Alessandra Prentice; editing by Jason Neely)
