Mali coup hits gold shares but miners carry on

JOHANNESBURG/LONDON Companies mining gold in Mali said they were operating as usual while monitoring a political crisis that caused the country’s borders to shut and hit their share prices on Wednesday.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resigned on Tuesday and dissolved parliament hours after soldiers detained him at gunpoint and seized power in a coup.

Barrick Gold, the biggest miner in Mali, said its Loulo- Gounkoto mine complex, which analysts at Scotiabank estimate will account for 9 per cent of the company’s production this year, had not been affected.

B2gold, Resolute Mining, Anglogold Ashanti, Hummingbird Resources and Cora Gold said operations and staff were unaffected, but traders sold shares because of increased political risk.

Resolute Mining shares fell 11.7 per cent, Hummingbird dropped 9.4 per cent, B2gold fell 8.8 per cent, Anglogold Ashanti lost 4 per cent and Barrick fell 2.7 per cent. Cora Gold shares were down 9.3 per cent.

“I have always monitored how much exposure I have in West Africa and in each country in the region because there is more risk and this coup reminds you of that,” a London-based gold investor said, asking not to be named.

Many miners continued to operate during a 2012 coup.

However, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has ordered the closure of land and air borders with Mali.

That complicates logistics for the mining sector, which accounted for 9.7 per cent of Mali’s GDP in 2019.