Mali seizes 3 tons of gold from Canadian company Barrick

HalfDime

Mali's military government has started seizing gold stocks of the Canadian mining company Barrick as part of a legal battle over the share of revenue owed to the West African state, according to an internal Barrick letter seen by The Associated Press.

The letter from CEO Mark Bristow to the Malian Mining Minister, dated Monday, says Barrick is “awaiting official confirmation of the proper receipt by the Malian Solidarity Bank,” a government entity.

The seizure follows a warning letter to Barrick earlier this month from Mali's senior investigating judge, Boubacar Moussa Diarra, saying three tons of gold would be seized.

On Monday, a senior Barrick manager confirmed that three tons had been seized by the military government and placed in the capital, Bamako. The manager spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

According to the senior manager, the gold was taken from a mine near Kayes in the west and transported by plane and truck to the capital late Saturday.

.....................................................
Everybody wants gold now, even Mali.

GoldFinger1969

Might need to start squeezing Mali. Criminal government.

cohodk

Is Mali part of Brics?

Goldminers

This is why mining companies and funds like GDX are struggling with low historical stock prices relative to the gold price. Their leverage and profitability are at risk overseas from many corrupt governments.

cohodk

@Goldminers said:
This is why mining companies and funds like GDX are struggling with low historical stock prices relative to the gold price. Their leverage and profitability are at risk overseas from many corrupt governments.

If only there was a way to group those govts together.

derryb

@cohodk said:
Is Mali part of Brics?

this issue is an internal conflict, being or not being a BRICs member is irrelevant.

But to answer your question, no, but any nation that is not "protected" by the umbrella of G-20 membership is likely to eventually seek the umbrella BRICs says it will provide. G-20 would be wise to change their membership to G-50.

derryb

@Goldminers said:
This is why mining companies and funds like GDX are struggling with low historical stock prices relative to the gold price. Their leverage and profitability are at risk overseas from many corrupt governments.

I wouldn't call it corruption went Mali simply wants a bigger share of a national resource being removed from the country by outside corporations.

Other gold miners in Mali have reached new agreements with Mali indicating they would still be profitable with a lower cut. Obviously Barrick wants to keep their big piece of the pie. Mali is simply responding to Barrick's refusal to agree to pay a higher percentage to Mali. Mali is taking the gold as payment for an increased percentage Barrick apparently refuses to pay. Is it not actually Mali's gold being removed from the ground?

(edited to correct spelling)

Goldminers

@derryb said:

@Goldminers said:
This is why mining companies and funds like GDX are struggling with low historical stock prices relative to the gold price. Their leverage and profitability are at risk overseas from many corrupt governments.

I wouldn't call it corruption went Bali simply wants a bigger share of a national resource being removed from the country by outside corporations.

Other gold miners in Bali have reached new agreements with Bali indicating they would still be profitable with a lower cut. Obviously Barrick wants to keep their big piece of the pie. Bali is simply responding to Barrick's refusal to agree to pay a higher percentage to Bali. Bali is taking the gold as payment for an increased percentage Barrick apparently refuses to pay.

They had a signed contract, and Barrick did offer to even increase it. This is Mali, not Bali. The new military coup "government" arrested senior executives. The military government there is corrupt. Barrick will not even recover their initial investment with outrageous demands of the military who took over the country's elected president at gunpoint and forced him to resign. Even the UN condemned this. It is blatant theft.

derryb

Mali, not Bali, thanks for the correction. New government, regardless of its corruption, new percentage. If Barrick's risk assessment team didn't prepare for this contingency when dealing with a third world country then that's on Barrick.

Goldminers

@derryb said:
Mali, not Bali, thanks for the correction. New government, regardless of its corruption, new percentage. If Barrick's risk assessment team didn't prepare for this contingency when dealing with a third world country then that's on Barrick.

It is hard to plan when the "new government" has this for a military. The gold was stolen to finance terrorism and pay solders. Nothing like this would have been expected in any rational country risk assessment when the project was started and investments made by Barrick. With these new and spreading risks, no new mining will be done in most all of the North, East, or Western countries of Africa. See below reported from the Human Rights Watch.

Mali’s armed forces, supported by the Russia-backed Wagner Group, and Islamist armed groups have committed serious abuses against civilians since the withdrawal of the United Nations peacekeeping mission, MINUSMA, from the country a year ago, Human Rights Watch said Dec. 24, 2024. Since May 2024, Malian armed forces and the Wagner Group have deliberately killed at least 32 civilians, including 7 in a drone strike, forcibly disappeared 4 others, and burned at least 100 homes in military operations in towns and villages in central and northern Mali. Two Islamist armed groups, the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, JNIM) and of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), have summarily executed at least 47 civilians and displaced thousands of people since June. The JNIM has also burned over 1,000 homes and looted thousands of livestock. Human Rights Watch received credible reports of hundreds more civilians killed, but due to the difficulties of conducting research in central and northern Mali, the numbers in this report are conservative.

derryb

@Goldminers said:

@derryb said:
Mali, not Bali, thanks for the correction. New government, regardless of its corruption, new percentage. If Barrick's risk assessment team didn't prepare for this contingency when dealing with a third world country then that's on Barrick.

It is hard to plan when the "new government" has this for a military. The gold was stolen to finance terrorism and pay solders. Nothing like this would have been expected in any rational country risk assessment when the project was started and investments made by Barrick. With these new and spreading risks, no new mining will be done in most all of the North, East, or Western countries of Africa. See below reported from the Human Rights Watch.

Mali’s armed forces, supported by the Russia-backed Wagner Group, and Islamist armed groups have committed serious abuses against civilians since the withdrawal of the United Nations peacekeeping mission, MINUSMA, from the country a year ago, Human Rights Watch said Dec. 24, 2024. Since May 2024, Malian armed forces and the Wagner Group have deliberately killed at least 32 civilians, including 7 in a drone strike, forcibly disappeared 4 others, and burned at least 100 homes in military operations in towns and villages in central and northern Mali. Two Islamist armed groups, the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, JNIM) and of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), have summarily executed at least 47 civilians and displaced thousands of people since June. The JNIM has also burned over 1,000 homes and looted thousands of livestock. Human Rights Watch received credible reports of hundreds more civilians killed, but due to the difficulties of conducting research in central and northern Mali, the numbers in this report are conservative.

no need to bring politics into the discussion. I see this as just another case where posters here let their political views cloud their response to news or even its source.

Any foreign corporation conducting operations in a third world country should be prepared for a government overthrow. It's simple: New government (regardless of how bad it is), new cut. Anyone removing a highly valuable natural resource from another country should have been prepared for such a scenario which should have included the possible ceasing of operations. New Mali government is shooting itself in the foot and will likely drive miners to projects in other countries. A cut of nothing is nothing.

derryb

@Goldminers said:
It is blatant theft.

No it is not. It is blatant new demands for the removal of Mali's gold. Contract? New government, new negotiations on existing contract. The other miners renegotiated and Mali did not need to take the increase in percentage out of what came out of the mines. If Mali was stealing the gold of miners they would not have limited themselves to just Barrick.

The headlines should not read "Mali stole Barrick's gold." They should read "The overthrown government of Mali demanded more percentage, Barrick refused to renegotiate, Mali took Barrick gold as payment for the percentage increase."

Goldminers

Barrick suspended all operations there yesterday putting 8,000 workers out of a job. The company owns 80 per cent of the mining complex, with the Mali government owning 20 per cent. Loulo-Gounkoto accounts for around 14 per cent of Barrick's estimated 2025 gold output, while gold is Mali's top foreign currency earner, accounting for more than 80 per cent of total exports in 2023. The other companies paid the demands to get their executives out of jail.

Bottom line, there will be fewer gold mining investments in countries with similar risks going forward, and worldwide production will be reduced along with gold mining stock profitability. This is not the only country where new demands and events like these are forcing closures.

derryb

@Goldminers said:
Barrick suspended all operations there yesterday putting 8,000 workers out of a job. The company owns 80 per cent of the mining complex, with the Mali government owning 20 per cent. Loulo-Gounkoto accounts for around 14 per cent of Barrick's estimated 2025 gold output, while gold is Mali's top foreign currency earner, accounting for more than 80 per cent of total exports in 2023. The other companies paid the demands to get their executives out of jail.

Bottom line, there will be fewer gold mining investments in countries with similar risks going forward, and worldwide production will be reduced along with gold mining stock profitability. This is not the only country where new demands and events like these are forcing closures.

History repeatedly shows there is an inherit risk in doing business in a third world country. Most foreign corporations know and prepare for this.

Like I said Mali is shooting itself in the foot. A cut of nothing is nothing. And, those 8,000 workers are likely now unemployed citizens of Mali. But their gold remains their gold. That's worth something to Mali. Maybe they can use those 8,000 workers to get the gold out of the ground themselves but at a much greater production cost.

Goldminers

@derryb,

I am very sorry to hear that your son passed unexpectedly. I can't imagine how difficult that would be. Please let me express my sincere condolences to you and your family.

derryb

Thank you. My time here helps distract me. It's nice to know that while those of use here may disagree with one another we still can hold respect for one another. Makes me want to try harder to respect others here.

jmski52

fewer gold mining investments in countries with similar risks going forward, and worldwide production will be reduced along with gold mining stock profitability. This is not the only country where new demands and events like these are forcing closures.

Sounds a lot like part of the plot from Atlas Shrugged.

blitzdude

Glad I physically possess all my Au. RGDS!

cohodk

@derryb said:

@Goldminers said:
This is why mining companies and funds like GDX are struggling with low historical stock prices relative to the gold price. Their leverage and profitability are at risk overseas from many corrupt governments.

I wouldn't call it corruption went Bali simply wants a bigger share of a national resource being removed from the country by outside corporations.

Other gold miners in Bali have reached new agreements with Bali indicating they would still be profitable with a lower cut. Obviously Barrick wants to keep their big piece of the pie. Bali is simply responding to Barrick's refusal to agree to pay a higher percentage to Bali. Bali is taking the gold as payment for an increased percentage Barrick apparently refuses to pay.

They had a signed contract, and Barrick did offer to even increase it. This is Mali, not Bali. The new military coup "government" arrested senior executives. The military government there is corrupt. Barrick will not even recover their initial investment with outrageous demands of the military who took over the country's elected president at gunpoint and forced him to resign. Even the UN condemned this. It is blatant theft.

They be making an impressive case for Bric membership.

cohodk

@Goldminers said:
@derryb,

I am very sorry to hear that your son passed unexpectedly. I can't imagine how difficult that would be. Please let me express my sincere condolences to you and your family.

Yes, so sorry to hear of your loss. May his memory be eternal.

derryb

@blitzdude said:
Glad I physically possess all my Au. RGDS!

LOL. So did Barrick