Resolute Mining (ASX: RSG; LSE: RSG) CEO Terence Holohan and two colleagues have been released from detention by Malian authorities, the company said on Thursday.
“All three employees are safe and well and have departed the country,” the Australian gold miner said in a two-paragraph release. “Resolute will provide further updates as and when appropriate.”
The trio of executives were held since Nov. 8 in Bamako, the capital of the West Africa state, regarding a tax dispute for the company’s Syama gold mine. The release followed an US$80 million payment on Monday and a pledge to pay the same amount again within months.
The release was reported on Wednesday by Agence France-Presse, which cited a judicial source and a local gold mine official. Resolute and the government signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the payments, the newswire said.
The junta detained employees of Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) last month in a dispute over US$500 million in taxes from the Loulo-Gounkoto mine complex. Authorities released the staff and Barrick paid an initial US$85 million. The company said it expects to complete negotiations by year’s end.
The country’s military leaders, in power since a 2020 coup, have been pressuring Western mining companies to increase payments to the government. It adopted a new mining code last year to raise state ownership of projects to 35% from 20%.
Gold deals
Allied Gold (TSX: AAUC) signed a 10-year deal on its Sadiola mine with Mali in September. B2Gold (TSX: BTO; NYSE-A: BTG) agreed with the government separately the same month on the Fekola mine.
Analysts said this month that while most of the companies in Mali now have deals with the junta, the practice of detaining employees for what amounts to ransom could spread through the region.
Neighbouring dictatorships in Burkina Faso, where Endeavour Mining (TSX: EDV; LSE: EDV; US-OTC: EDVMF), West African Resources (ASX: WAF) and Orezone Gold (TSX: ORE; US-OTC: ORZCF) operate, and Uranium-rich Niger joined with Mali to form the Alliance of Sahel States this year.
A belt of coup-created governments stretches across northern Africa, from Guinea on the Altantic Ocean to Sudan on the Red Sea.
– With assistance from Henry Lazenby in Vancouver and Alisha Hiyate in Toronto.
Be the first to comment on "Mali junta frees Resolute CEO"