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Mali’s military junta has arrested the chief executive and two employees of Australian gold mining company Resolute Mining, the company says.
Chief executive Terence Holohan and two staff were detained on Friday in Mali’s capital of Bamako while they were visiting the nation for talks over an unspecified dispute.
Andrew Wray, the company’s non-executive chairman, said in a statement published on Resolute Mining’s website on Monday the three officials were “unexpectedly detained” after discussions about “claims made against” the company, without elaborating.
There was no information on why the three were still detained three days later.
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 per cent stake in the mine while the Malian government holds the remaining 20 per cent.
The arrest is the latest controversy in Mali’s foreign-dominated and crucial mining sector, increasingly scrutinised by the military authorities.
Four employees of Canadian company Barrick Gold were also detained for days in September.
Resolute Mining said the claims made against the company were “unsubstantiated” and it has followed due process in conducting its affairs in Mali.
It is being assisted on the issue by foreign embassies in Mali, including that of the United Kingdom, it said.
Resolute Mining is among several foreign companies that have for years dominated the mining sector in Mali, one of Africa’s leading gold producers which has for many years struggled with jihadi violence and high levels of poverty and hunger.
The companies have faced growing pressure under the military which seized power in 2020 as it seeks to shore up revenues in the mining sector.
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