Barrick Mining and Mali’s government have reached a verbal agreement in principle to resolve their dispute over the Loulo-Gounkoto gold mining complex, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Friday.
No agreement has yet been signed, the sources said.
A spokesperson for Barrick Mining did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Mali’s mines ministry said negotiations were progressing well but did not provide further details.
The two sides have been in a dispute since 2023 over the implementation of a new Mali mining code that raises taxes and gives the government a greater share of gold mines.
They met for talks on Friday, a week after Barrick’s interim CEO Mark Hill wrote a letter to Mali’s administration asking to restart negotiations, one of the sources said.
The talks included a renewal of Barrick’s mine license, which expires in February 2026, for an additional 10 years. They also discussed the release of four Barrick employees arrested in Mali, the return of 3 metric tons of gold that were seized by Mali officials, and the dropping of arbitration proceedings initiated by Barrick against Mali, the source said.
Barrick suspended operations at the massive Loulo-Gounkoto complex in January. A Malian court in June appointed a provisional administrator to restart operations, although blasting did not begin until October.
(By Divya Rajagopal, Portia Crowe and Pranav Mathur; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
