The Western African Country ‘Mali’ has issued an arrest warrant for the CEO of Canadian mining company Barrick Gold – Mark Bristow for money laundering allegations.
Reportedly, Barrick Gold has been operated in Mali for more than three decades. Mali claims that the mining company owes $500 million unpaid taxes to the country.
Mali is led by the Junta Government of the West African country that seeks more income from the sector to bolster state revenues as prices of the precious metal rally. It has also detained the mining executives to put pressure on foreign companies that are being operated there.
As per the sources, four senior local employees of Barrick Gold were briefly detained in September as the government demanded the $500M unpaid taxes and then arrested then again, last month for the pending trial.
CEO Bristow expressed his views on the case during early November as the world’s No. 2 gold miner was confident of resolving claims and disputes with the authorities, before the end of the year.
He is accused of money laundering and for violating financial rules and regulations. His crime list also includes the warrant document, which was first reported by the Malian Media and was showed on the Dec 04, 2024.
However, it’s authenticity was confirmed by two sources that are close to the matter who asked not to be identified.
Mining Company Barrick cleared on their part and said that the company will not be commenting on the reported arrest warrant by Mali. He also mentioned that his shares fell down 2.9% on the Toronto stock exchange, after the news unveiled.
Considering this, CEO of Barrick Gold – Mark Bristow, who is a South African national and shuttles between Britain and the United States, last travelled to Mali in July 2024, from the headquarter established in Toronto.
Notably, another document is recovered which depicts that Mali had also issued an arrest warrant for Barrick’s Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex in Mali General Manager – Cheick Abass Coulibaly.
In addition, Australia’s Resolute Mining revealed something new that also involved its British CEO and the two other employees who were detained by Mali’s military-led authorities over a tax dispute last month. They were released after the miner agreed to tax of pay $160 million.
The detentions and arrest warrants in Mali signifies the challenges that are faced by the international mining companies, especially in the region, where Burkina Faso and Niger have also increased pressure on them.