Reuters was first to report that Canadian miner Barrick Gold had signed a new agreement with the Malian government to end an almost two-year-old dispute over its mining assets in the West African country. The company’s shares rose more than 3% on the Toronto Stock Exchange after the Reuters report.

Why it matters

The Toronto-based miner and Mali have been locked in a dispute since 2023 over the implementation of the West African country’s new mining code that gives Mali’s government a greater share in the gold mine. Military governments in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are using legal disputes, arrests, and nationalisations, as well as threats to deepen their ties with Russia, to assert greater control over their gold and uranium wealth. The dispute has taken a heavy toll on Barrick, with employees arrested, operations suspended and gold worth more than $200 million seized.