{"id":1542248,"date":"2025-06-17T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1542248"},"modified":"2025-06-17T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T22:00:00","slug":"worst-case-outcome-mali-places-barrick-golds-loulo-gounkoto-mine-into-state-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/worst-case-outcome-mali-places-barrick-golds-loulo-gounkoto-mine-into-state-control\/1542248\/","title":{"rendered":"“Worst Case Outcome”: Mali Places Barrick Gold’s Loulo-Gounkoto Mine Into State Control"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Worst Case Outcome”: Mali Places Barrick Gold’s Loulo-Gounkoto Mine Into State Control<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A Malian court has ordered Barrick Gold Corp.\u2019s Loulo-Gounkoto mine into six months of provisional administration, transferring control of one of the Canadian firm’s key assets to a state-appointed manager. Judge Issa Aguibou Diallo said Soumana Makadji, an accountant and former health minister, will oversee operations, according to Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ruling follows months of tensions. In January, Barrick suspended operations after authorities blocked exports over a tax and royalty dispute. Though the company agreed to a resolution in February, it says Malian officials have yet to act. Meanwhile, exports from the mine\u2014responsible for 723,000 ounces of gold last year\u2014have been halted since November.<\/p>\n

Mali\u2019s junta, facing financial strain, demands back taxes and adherence to laws that would grant the state a larger stake and higher royalties. In October, Barrick paid $85 million as part of ongoing negotiations. The government has since seized 3 tons of gold and detained four Barrick employees.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Bloomberg writes<\/a> that\u00a0Barrick called the court move illegal and a breach of its contractual rights. \u201cWhile the company has made a number of good faith concessions in the spirit of partnership, it cannot accept terms that would compromise the legal integrity or long-term viability of the operations,\u201d it said in a Monday statement.<\/p>\n

Last month, the company turned to the World Bank\u2019s arbitration tribunal to block the provisional administration. A legal representative for Mali\u2019s government did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Mali defends the takeover as necessary \u201cto ensure the continuity of operations and protect its national interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis scenario [is] the worst-case outcome for Barrick,\u201d said RBC analyst Josh Wolfson. \u201cIn our view, it is most appropriate to assume zero go-forward production for Barrick, while some partial value recovery could be possible through a protracted arbitration process on a longer-dated basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nTue, 06\/17\/2025 – 14:00<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/markets\/mali-places-barrick-golds-loulo-gounkoto-mine-state-control<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Worst Case Outcome”: Mali Places Barrick Gold’s Loulo-Gounkoto Mine Into State Control A Malian court has ordered Barrick Gold Corp.\u2019s Loulo-Gounkoto mine into six months…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1542249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1542248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1542248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1542249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1542248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1542248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1542248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}