Mali returns possession of seized gold to Barrick

A Malian judge has ordered the return of possession of 3 metric tons of gold seized nearly a year ago from Barrick Mining’s Loulo-Gounkoto complex to the Canadian miner, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The gold, worth about $400 million, was seized by a military helicopter in January following a confiscation order from a Malian judge. It has remained at the BMS bank in Mali’s capital, Bamako, since then, according to both sources.

While the judge ordered possession of the gold to be returned to Barrick, the miner will be responsible for transporting the gold out of the bank vaults, they said.

The two sides reached an agreement last month to resolve their dispute over Barrick’s operations in the West African country after two years of negotiations. The disagreement, over the implementation of a new mining code introduced by the military-led government, led to Barrick suspending operations of its gold mining complex in January, and a Malian court-appointed provisional administrator taking control in June.

Barrick agreed to a settlement worth $430 million, one of the two sources and a third person said. The provisional administration is set to return control of the mining complex to Barrick next week, all three sources said.

A spokesperson for Barrick declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Mali’s mines ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Four Barrick employees who had been in prison since November 2024 were released last month as part of the agreement, while Barrick dropped its international arbitration case against Mali.

(By Portia Crowe and Divya Rajagopal; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)