Company looking to find 'amicable dispute settlement'
Authorities in Mali have arrested four senior officials of Canadian mining firm Barrick Gold, the company said.
The workers are employed at Barrick Gold’s Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex in the country. They have been charged and detained pending trial.
Barrick Gold says it refutes the charges, adding that it would “continue to engage with the Malian government to find an amicable dispute settlement that would ensure the long-term sustainability of the complex”.
The company, however, did not disclose what the charges are specifically.
Previously, a Canadian mining association moved to boost diversity with a new protocol.
Mali detains mining sector workers
Mark Bristow, Barrick Gold’s president and CEO, says that since Sept. 30, the company had been actively seeking to finalize a Memorandum of Agreement that would guide Barrick’s partnership with the government in future, including the state’s share of the economic benefits generated by the complex and the legal framework under which this would be managed.
“Our attempts to find a mutually acceptable resolution have so far been unsuccessful, but we remain committed to engage with the government in order to resolve all the claims levied against the company and its employees and secure the early release of our unjustly imprisoned colleagues,” he said in a statement.
The military regime in the West African nation – one of Africa’s leading gold producers – continues to detain workers to pressure companies in its crucial mining sector to pay millions in additional taxes, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
The same Barrick Gold employees also were briefly taken into custody in September, according to AP.
Earlier this month, Mali authorities also arrested the CEO and two employees of Australian firm Resolute Mining, according to the report.
“Mali is likely to continue to using detentions, arrests and even charges against mining executives to compel foreign-owned companies to comply with new regulations and generate short-term funds,” Beverly Ochieng, an analyst at the Control Risks Group consulting firm, told AP
“These regulations are currently being applied retroactively, which is likely to increase regulatory disputes and make the mining sector challenging and unpredictable for Western companies,” Ochieng added.
In mid-2024, two experts raised water contamination concerns following the landslide at a gold mine in Yukon.
