Mali\u2019s military leader has created a new ministerial-level role to oversee the mining sector, strengthening the presidency\u2019s direct oversight of the critical gold industry, and appointed a former Barrick Mining executive to fill it.<\/p>\n
Legal documents governing the role show the minister will have powers to supervise mining policy implementation, monitor compliance with the mining code, and review reports submitted by title holders \u2013 responsibilities previously handled by the mines ministry.<\/p>\n
According to a January 19 presidential decree, Hilaire Bebian Diarra, an earth-science specialist who switched from Barrick to the government last year while leading negotiations for the company over control of the Loulo-Gounkoto complex, has been appointed to the role.<\/p>\n
The Malian national was named special adviser to the presidency during the bitter dispute over Mali\u2019s top industrial gold mine, as Assimi Goita\u2019s government pushed for higher taxes and greater state participation in mining projects.<\/p>\n
The move was widely seen as a strategic blow to the Canadian miner.<\/p>\n
Diarra was not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n
Stronger structures to oversee mining
Mali is one of Africa\u2019s biggest gold producers, and several national mining forums in recent years have urged the creation of stronger structures to oversee security, compliance, and community impacts in its mining industry.<\/p>\n
A senior government official said the presidency has assumed the lead on mining oversight, with key exploitation permits decided by the presidency and contract talks \u2013 including the Barrick dispute \u2013 also run from the presidential palace.<\/p>\n
The finance ministry meanwhile now fronts fiscal matters, and the mining ministry focuses on regulation.<\/p>\n
Diarra\u2019s elevation comes as Mali tightens its grip on the mining sector, its biggest revenue generator, under a 2023 mining code that helped recover 761 \u00a0billion CFA francs ($1.2 \u00a0billion) in arrears, the government said in December.<\/p>\n
The tougher code rattled miners and triggered a two-year standoff with Barrick, pushing industrial gold output down by 23% in 2025, provisional mines ministry data showed.<\/p>\n
(By Tiemoko Diallo; Editing by Maxwell Akalaare Adombila, Jessica Donati and Jan Harvey)<\/p>\n
Disclaimer:\u00a0The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and\/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mali\u2019s military leader has created a new ministerial-level role to oversee the mining sector, strengthening the presidency\u2019s direct…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[13286,13278,114,13282,1152,13277,4404,13280,184,13279,13281,12858,1247,85,13285,6453,46,13269,13287,13274,13288,13276,13271,13272,13270,13273,238,13275,13284,450,2796,13283,7549],"class_list":["post-253493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-bank-forecasts","tag-bitcoin-news","tag-business","tag-central-banks","tag-charts","tag-crypto-news","tag-currency","tag-economic-reports","tag-economy","tag-ethereum-news","tag-forecasts","tag-global-economy","tag-gold","tag-il","tag-international-policy","tag-interviews","tag-israel","tag-kitco-news","tag-market-nugget","tag-metals","tag-mining-minutes","tag-mining-news","tag-palladium","tag-pgm","tag-platinum","tag-platinum-group-metals","tag-politics","tag-precious-metals","tag-rare-earth-metals","tag-roundups","tag-silver","tag-tech-metals","tag-us-dollar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}