Resolute Mining pays $50 million more to Mali

A London miner has paid another $50 million to Mali as part of a settlement to a dispute with the government that resulted in its chief executive being detained in the country for almost a fortnight.
Resolute Mining said that it expected to pay the full $160 million that it had agreed with the state by the end of the year in exchange for all outstanding claims against it, including tax and customs levies, being dropped.
The shares, which have fallen by about 47 per cent over the past month, rose by as much as 8 per cent in London.
Terence Holohan, the chief executive of Resolute Mining, was released last week, along with two other British employees, from the government building they had been detained in.
They had been in Mali’s capital, Bamako, to hold discussions with the mining and tax authorities regarding general activities related to the company’s business practices, according to Resolute.
Earlier this month the company, which has a primary listing in Sydney, signed up to a memorandum of understanding with the government, paving the way for more detailed talks with the military junta that took power in 2020, over “the long-term future of Resolute’s operations in Mali”.
It said: “Resolute remains focused on securing the long-term future of, and creating certainty for, the Syama goldmine and its expansion plans.”
The government has been applying pressure on miners to sign up to a new code that would allow the state to take a stake of up to 30 per cent in projects and an additional 5 per cent at a later date, which could then be given to private Malian investors.
Earlier this week the multibillion-pound Canadian mining company Barrick Gold said that four of its employees had been arrested and charged in Mali and were awaiting trial. Barrick has said that it refutes the charges and continues to seek “an amicable dispute settlement” with the government that would ensure the sustainable operation of the Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex in the west African country.
The Syama goldmine is Resolute’s largest asset and produced about 212,000 ounces of gold last year, which would be worth more than $500 million at current prices. The Mali government already has a 20 per cent stake in the mine. The company said that operations at the mine had been unaffected by the dispute.