Mali seeks arrest of Canadian gold mining firm CEO

People dance during the inauguration of Mali's president Bah Ndaw at the March 26 stadium in Bamako in 2020. Ndaw was deposed the next year and Mali's rulers since then have shown desire to overhaul the lucrative mining sector. Photo / AFP

A Malian court has issued an arrest warrant for the chief executive of Canadian company Barrick Gold, sources close to the case said on Thursday, as the ruling junta steps up pressure on foreign mining firms.

Barrick Gold, along with the Malian state, owns one of the world’s largest gold mines, located in the West African country.

The warrant for CEO Mark Bristow for “money laundering” was signed this week amid a dispute between Barrick Gold and the Malian state.

Four Malian employees of Barrick Gold were also charged and detained in late November.

South African citizen Bristow, who has also been charged, is the subject of a national arrest warrant, though he is not thought to be in Mali.

Since coming to power in a 2020 coup, Mali’s military rulers have promised a fairer distribution of revenue from the country’s foreign-dominated mining industry.

The court issued another warrant on the same day for Cheikh Abass Coulibaly, the Malian managing director of the Loulo-Gounkoto gold mining complex.

He was accused of the same alleged offences, according to the same sources.

Together with the Malian state, Barrick Gold owns the open-pit Loulo-Gounkoto site in the country’s west, one of the world’s largest gold mines.

The Canadian firm owns 80%, with Mali retaining the rest.

The exact allegations against Barrick Gold are not known.

The dispute concerns “the state’s share of the economic benefits generated by the complex”, the company said in a statement in late November.

Higher stakes

Despite being one of the leading gold producers in Africa, Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world.

In recent months foreign miners have come under pressure from the military authorities, which have sought to increase their control of the lucrative mineral sector.

The West African state is embroiled in a political, security and economic crisis, and since 2012 has been battling jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as a separatist insurgency in the north.

Gold mining provides a quarter of the national budget, three-quarters of export earnings and 10% of Mali’s economic output.

The increased pressure on foreign companies has coincided with the junta’s strategic pivot toward Russia and away from former colonial ruler France.

On Wednesday, Mali announced a series of decrees increasing the state’s stake in various gold and lithium mining ventures.

Used in the manufacture of electric batteries, lithium’s strategic importance has grown as a result of its importance to the world’s transition to a low-carbon economy.

The Malian state will take a 30% stake in the Bougouni and Goulamina lithium mines in the country’s south, according to a Council of Ministers press release, with a 5% stake going to private Malian companies.

Those will be operated by British miner Kodal Minerals and Chinese company Ganfeng Lithium respectively, the statement added.

Mali will also take a 30% stake in the Korali-Sud gold deposit in the west and a 20% stake in the Nampala gold mine in the south, operated by Barrick Gold’s fellow Canadians Allied Gold and Robex respectively.

Those acquisitions were made possible by a new mining code adopted in August 2023 allowing the state to take a stake of up to 30% in new ventures.

The reform also abolished tax exemptions granted to companies during the mining process.

© Agence France-Presse