Barrick’s request for an expedition in the Mali case is denied by the World Bank arbitration committee, according to sources

A request by Barrick Mining (ABX.TO) to speed up its case in international arbitration against Mali was turned down, two people with knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Friday.

Barrick and the government of the West African country have been in tense talks since 2023 over a new mining code that raises taxes and gives the government a bigger part of the gold mines.

Barrick started arbitration procedures with ICSID, the World Bank’s arbitration court, in December 2024.

It wanted ICSID to quickly deal with problems like the fact that four of its employees were still being held, that the Loulo-Gounkoto complex needed a temporary manager to run it after Barrick stopped working there because of the dispute, and that the Loulo mine’s license would expire in 2026.

Two people said the request was turned down this week.

An organization called ICSID said on its website that it had ordered “provisional measures” on Wednesday, but it didn’t give any more information.

Barrick refused to say anything about what was going on. When asked for comments, ICSID and the Malian mines ministry did not reply.