Mali agrees new terms with Canadian gold miner Robex

Canadian mining group Robex has signed a new agreement with Mali to operate its Nampala gold mine

The company has been operating the mine since 2017, but the new agreement reflects changes to the West African country’s mining code. The new rules compel international firms to pay higher taxes and also to hand over bigger shares in assets to the state, moves which have ruffled feathers among foreign investors.

Mali is Africa’s second biggest gold producer.

In a statement, Robex managing director Matthew Wilcox said that he was grateful for getting the new deal over the line.

“I would like to thank their excellencies, the Minister of Mines, the Minister of Economy and Finance and all the parties involved for constructive discussions over the past few months, and we look forward to working alongside the government,” he said.

However, last September, the company had indicated that it was ready to sells its Nampala asset but had not received any acceptable offers.

Mali's Council of Ministers also released a statement this week stating that the company was now looking to produce 1.4 tons of gold per year for a period of eight years.

“Geological research carried out by the company has identified a deposit with mineral reserves estimated at 17,351,000 tons with a gold content of 0.70 grams per ton,” it stated. The statement added that the government had signed a memorandum of understanding with the company in September that allowed Mali to increase its stakeholding in the Nampala project, entitling the state to priority dividends.

The Nampala mine in southern Mali is approximately 300 km south of the capital, Bamako. The open-pit mine uses conventional surface mining techniques and process to recover gold. The mine is excavated using a conventional truck and shovel operation.

The widest equipment used by the contractors is a Caterpillar 773B haul truck, matched with a 385 hydraulic excavator.

Nampala first reached commercial production in January 2017, with output rising rapidly on the back of exploration work, eventually hitting peak production at 8047tpd in mid 2022.

But other mining groups, such as Barrick Gold, have yet to reach a successful resolution with the Mali regime following the change in rules. In a 12 February statement, the company stated that “ongoing issues in Mali remain an investor concern” and acknowledged that this had dragged on share prices. Barrick’s chief executive Mark Bristow told Reuters in an interview that the company still hopes to restart operations at its shuttered Loulo-Gounkoto mine as soon as local authorities allow it to resume gold shipments.

Barrick Gold is the largest single investor in Mali’s gold mining sector.

 Read more: Barrick's commitment to Mali's mining sector