Mali restarts Loulo-Gounkoto mine after nine-month shutdown

Operations have restarted at Barrick's Loulo-Gounkoto gold mine in Mali following a nine-month shutdown, Bloomberg News reported, citing unnamed sources.

Barrick halted work at the West African complex in January after Mali's military government blocked gold exports, confiscated gold stock and arrested senior staff. A Bamako court subsequently appointed Soumana Makadji, an accountant and former health minister, to oversee the mine for at least six months from June. Mining activity resumed in the days before 22 October, after an agreement to reinstate payments to contractors that had been suspended during the shutdown, according to one source.

State-run restart, disputed ownership

Mali's mines minister, Amadou Keita, said in June that the provisional administration would aim to “restart operations, produce, pay the workers' wages, but also produce gold for the national economy.” A Barrick spokesperson declined to comment on the restart, while Makadji did not respond to enquiries, and a mining ministry representative said he was unaware whether operations had resumed, adding that the ministry itself is not involved in running the mine.

The mixed signals underline how contested the mine's status remains: Barrick continues to regard Loulo-Gounkoto as its own asset under illegitimate state control, while Mali's provisional administration is now running day-to-day production.

Why it matters

Loulo-Gounkoto produced 723,000 ounces of gold in 2024 and ranks among Barrick's most valuable mines. Its prolonged closure meant Barrick could not benefit from a roughly 60% surge in the gold price this year, a significant opportunity cost on top of the direct loss of output. For Mali, restarting the mine — even without Barrick's cooperation — offers a route to gold revenue and wages for the mine's workforce, which had gone unpaid during parts of the standoff.

Shortly after taking control of the complex earlier in the year, government officials had arrived by helicopter and departed with a tonne of gold; Barrick has said it still awaits information on where its previously seized bullion is being held. The conflict, rooted in a 2023 mining code that raised taxes and state ownership stakes, has also drawn in rival miners Allied Gold and B2Gold, which have separately navigated Mali's tougher rules.

What's next

With gold once again flowing from Loulo-Gounkoto, the key question is whether renewed output will be enough to bring Barrick and Mali back to the negotiating table on ownership and control, or whether the state-run arrangement becomes a more lasting fixture. Barrick has previously said it wants the mine back once export routes are secured and its legal position is restored.

Sources

• Miningmx: Mali resumes production at seized Barrick gold mine, 22 Oct 2025