By Portia Crowe
DAKAR (Reuters) -Malian authorities have shut the Canadian miner Barrick Gold’s office in the capital Bamako over the alleged non-payment of taxes, two sources close to the matter told Reuters, in the latest escalation of a protracted dispute over mining revenues.
Barrick confirmed in a statement that departments within the government this week closed Barrick’s Bamako office and threatened to place the suspended Loulo-Gounkoto mine under provisional administration unless the mine was reopened and tax payments were made.
The Toronto-based miner and Mali have been in a dispute since 2023 over the implementation of the West African country’s new mining code that gives Mali’s government a greater share in the gold mine. In February, Reuters reported how two former employees of Barrick were driving Mali’s hardball talks with the company.
The two sides have been negotiating to resolve the dispute. Reuters reported on February 19 that Barrick had signed an agreement to end it, which awaits approval from the Malian government.
In its statement on Tuesday, Barrick said it had signed the agreement presented by the Malian government in February, but the government failed to execute it. “Its conclusion now appears to be obstructed by a small group of individuals placing personal or political interests above the long-term interests of Mali and its people,” the company said.
Barrick said it remains ready to honour the agreement and was prepared to immediately restart production.
Staff in Bamako cannot access the office premises, one of the sources said, adding that the closure did not affect the Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex in western Mali, where operations have been suspended since mid-January.
One of the sources who spoke about the shutdown of the head office and two other sources said a resolution to the dispute was expected as soon as next week.
The sources all asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Operations at the Loulo-Gounkoto complex were suspended after the government seized around three metric tons of gold stock from it, accusing the company of not fulfilling its tax obligations. That tax dispute is separate from the one cited for this week’s office closure, one of the sources said.
Mali’s government, which took power after coups in 2020 and 2021, had been blocking the company’s gold exports since early November.
Nearly 40 Malian staff from the Loulo-Gounkoto complex are being at least temporarily transferred to Barrick’s Kibali mine in Democratic Republic of Congo, a fifth source said.
That person said the transfers are part of a first wave, but that 100 Malian staff in total have been identified for relocation, a sign operations are unlikely to restart soon.
(Reporting by Portia Crowe, additional reporting by Divya Rajagopal in Toronto. editing by Silvia Aloisi, Barbara Lewis and Nia Williams)
