Australian mine company to pay $160 million to Mali junta after 3 of its executives were detained

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Australia’s Resolute Mining said Monday it would pay $160 million to Mali’s ruling junta to resolve a tax dispute, more than a week after the company’s CEO and two other executives were detained in the West African country.

Earlier this month, the Australian gold mining company’s CEO Terence Holohan and the two others were detained in Mali’s capital Bamako on Nov. 8 as they were visiting the country for talks over an unspecified dispute. The government did not say why they were detained.

Andrew Wray, the company’s non-executive chairman, said in a statement published on Resolute Mining’s website that all claims against the company made by Malian authorities, “including those related to tax, customs levies, maintenance and management of offshore accounts” are settled.

The company will pay Mali $80 million from “existing cash reserves,” with an additional payment of $80 million in the “coming months,” he added.

Resolute said the companies three executives were “safe and well,” and that it was working with Mali’s authorities for their release.

The Australian company has been working for years at Mali’s Syama gold mine, a large-scale operation in the country’s southwest. It holds an 80% stake in mine, while the Malian government holds the remaining 20%.

The arrest is the latest controversy in Mali’s foreign-dominated and crucial mining sector, increasingly scrutinized by the military authorities. Four employees of Canadian company Barrick Gold also were detained for days in September.

Mali is one of Africa’s leading gold producers, but has struggled for many years with jihadi violence and high levels of poverty and hunger. The military seized power in 2020 and since then the junta has placed foreign mining companies under growing pressure as it seeks to shore up the government’s revenues.