Barrick Gold CEO’s arrest order issued by Mali, according to document

The CEO of Canada’s Barrick Gold (ABX.TO), Mark Bristow, has been the subject of an arrest warrant issued by Mali, according to a document obtained by Reuters and verified by two sources.

After Mali, one of Africa’s leading producers of gold, changed its mining regulations in an attempt to increase its revenue from the corporations, tensions between the country’s miners and the miners themselves have increased.

In September, it detained four top Barrick local employees in connection with the conflict.

The CEO of Barrick, Mark Bristow, told Reuters in early November that the world’s second-largest gold miner was certain that claims and disagreements with authorities will be settled by the end of the year.

But later that month, the business announced that four workers had been accused and were being held in Mali for trial.
The warrant document, which was first published by Malian media and viewed by Reuters, was issued on December 2 and accused Bristow of money laundering and financial regulation violations.

According to Barrick, the business “will not be commenting” on the alleged arrest warrant.