By Tiemoko Diallo, Divya Rajagopal and Portia Crowe
BAMAKO (Reuters) -Canada’s Barrick Gold said on Monday it would suspend operations in Mali if the country does not lift restrictions on gold shipments within the coming week, as the mining group faces what sources told Reuters amounted to a confiscation order.
Barrick’s Mali standoff, threats by Burkina Faso’s junta to strip mining permits and the seizure of a French-run uranium site in Niger have unsettled Western miners and could limit further investments in West Africa, industry insiders say.
Military governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are all trying to renegotiate terms to gain a bigger share of mining revenues after a series of coups that have seen them shift away from their traditional backers France, the United States and the United Nations towards Russia.
Barrick, whose Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex in Mali accounts for around 14% of its 2025 estimated gold output, has been in a dispute with the country’s government over a contract based on new mining rules since 2023. And last month, it issued an arrest warrant for Barrick Chief Executive Mark Bristow.
Mali was Africa’s second-biggest gold producer in 2023 and 11th in the world, the World Gold Council said. Barrick is the second-largest gold mining company globally. In addition to restrictions on shipments, the authorities in Mali have now issued an interim order against the existing gold stock at Loulo-Gounkoto that has further prevented exports and disrupted operations, Barrick said in a statement.
This order meant the gold stocks would be confiscated, two sources with direct knowledge of the issue told Reuters.
The sources did not say what volume was at risk, but a Barrick employee in Mali estimated its stock to be at around 4 metric tons of gold. If its inability to ship gold “is not resolved within the coming week, Barrick will have no choice but to temporarily suspend operations at Loulo-Gounkoto,” the company said.
Shares of Barrick Gold were trading down 1.9% on the Toronto Stock Exchange at 1116 ET (1616 GMT).
Barrick did not reply to a request for comment about the confiscation of its stocks.
A spokesperson for Mali’s mines ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Barrick employee in Mali said departments at the mine had been told to prepare for a suspension. Another source, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said mine employees had been informed of the same.
Barrick warned last month that conditions at Loulo-Gounkoto had deteriorated significantly, with employees detained without cause and shipments of bullion blocked.
A production suspension at the mine could reduce Barrick’s earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization by 11% in 2025, Jefferies analysts have estimated.
Mali’s government wants Barrick’s operations to be governed under new mining rules adopted in 2023, Barrick has said, but the law has no application to existing operations.
Barrick owns 80% of Loulo-Gounkoto, with Mali owning 20%.
(Additional reporting by David Lewis in Nairobi and Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Savio D’Souza, Shreya Biswas and Alexander Smith)
