A court in Mali on Tuesday dismissed an appeal by Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold to release four employees arrested last November, deepening the company’s standoff with the transitional government over taxes and ownership of mining operations.
Judge Samba Sarr ruled the appeal “unfounded,” while Barrick’s lawyer, Alifa Habib Kone, described the allegations against the employees as baseless.
The four local staff face charges including money laundering and regulatory violations.
Barrick, which operates Mali’s Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex, refutes all charges against its employees.
The dispute comes as Mali enforces a new mining code designed to raise taxes and increase state ownership in gold mines.
Operations at Loulo-Gounkoto, where Barrick holds an 80% stake and the Malian government owns 20%, have been suspended since mid-January after authorities blocked gold exports and seized three metric tons of the company’s
