Things aren’t going swimmingly for Canadian multinational Barrick Mining Co. Military coup toppled 20 year old fledgling democracy in 2012; the latest junta seized power in 2021. Autocratic authorities seized 3 tons of gold from Barrick in January. Arbitration continued into this month. Last Thursday, government helicopters visited the Barrick mine and scooped up another ton of gold.
The multinational says it remains committed to engage constructively with the government of Mali. Assimi Goïta, Mali’s current unelected President, has publicly expressed gratitude towards Vladimir Putin for all the support Russia provides the junta.
Democracy is great for capitalism as it tends to advance property rights. Inexperienced plutocrats who think they can ride the tiger and handle wannabe dictators make for a fine meal.
Why are they even keeping gold at this site? If I were that company, I’d be hauling it out of the country as fast as I could get it out of the ground.
Export authorizations have been blocked since January. Barrick has mining operations in approximately 20 countries: they have a reputation to uphold. What kind of reputation they have is unknown to me and I frankly don’t know the ins and outs of this story.
Owners of other gold mines in the country have reached settlements with the junta according to Bloomberg: I don’t know the terms.
This expropriation sounds like a pressure play on the company to acceed to the government’s demand for tribute. As well as a naked grab.
Mali has sure changed since we lived there in the mid-90s. It was quiet and peaceful then, other than for some unhappy Tuareg people up north. It wasn’t idyllic, of course; there was the large population of poor and the small percentage of the wealthy. But the government was stable.
Not very good. They have a long history of environmental damage in poor countries and the use of said countries’ police and militaries to crush opposition.
Various countries say that Barrick owes them a lot of money.