Mali court postpones the hearing on whether to temporarily administer Barrick’s gold mines

A hearing on whether to place Barrick Mining’s (ABX.TO) new massive Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex under provisional administration has been postponed until Thursday, a Malian court’s registration office and one of the participating attorneys told Reuters on Monday.

A dispute over taxes and ownership led to the suspension of activities at the facility in January; granting the request would be a significant escalation of that dispute between the West African nation and the Canadian miner.

Since 2023, there has been conflict between Barrick Mining, formerly known as Barrick Gold, and the military-led government of Mali over the adoption of a new mining code that increases taxes and grants the government of Mali a larger stake in the gold mines.

After the authorities confiscated almost 3 metric tons of gold in January, claiming the corporation had failed to pay taxes, operations at the mines were suspended. Exports of Barrick’s gold had been halted by the government since early November.

Resuming activities is contingent upon the removal of gold export limitations by the Malian government, according to Barrick.

Gold prices increased 27% in 2024 and have now risen about 28.5% this year. A record $3,500.05 per ounce was reached by the market on April 22.

Last month, the government of Mali, a shareholder in the mining complex, requested that the Bamako Commercial Court designate a temporary administrator to assume control of the mines while the two parties continued their negotiations.

The main area of contention in the talks, according to two people familiar with the situation, is Mali’s insistence that Barrick switch to the 2023 mining code, Reuters said.

Because of the new mining law, the government has renegotiated deals with other international miners. In December 2024, an arrest warrant was issued for Chief Executive Mark Bristow, and four Barrick workers had been in custody since November 2024.

Without outlining the specifics of the accusations made against its staff, Barrick has officially denied them. A court document seen by Reuters claims that they cover terrorism financing and money laundering.