BAMAKO, Mali
Barrick Gold Corporation and AngloGold Ashanti Limited today concluded the sale of their interest in Morila Gold Limited, which owns 80% of the Morila gold mine in Mali, to Firefinch Limited (previously named Mali Lithium Limited) for $28.8 million cash.
Noting
that all Morila employees had been re-employed by Firefinch, Barrick President
and Chief Executive, Mark Bristow, saidin a press release that the transaction
would benefit the mine’s Malian stakeholders by giving Firefinch the
opportunity to extend its life by accessing satellite resources and adapting
the infrastructure.
The
mine had been scheduled for closure in 2021.
Barrick
has been the operator of the mine and the sale is in line with its policy of
selling non-core assets to concentrate on Tier One mines – those with the
capacity to produce at least 500,000 ounces of gold annually for more than 10
years in the lower half of the industry’s cost curve.
Bristow
said Barrick remained committed to its partnership with Mali, where it owns and
operates the Tier One Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex.
The
discovery and development of Morila served as the springboard for the Barrick legacy company Randgold Resources’
expansion into Africa.
Since
it went into production in October 2000 it has produced 6.9 million ounces of
gold and paid more than $2.5 billion to its stakeholders in the form of
dividends and taxes.
Morila
which is
an open-pit gold mine in the Sikasso Region of Mali, transitioned to a stockpile treatment
operation in 2009 and began processing tailings in 2013.
It laid the foundation for Randgold Resources, now part of Barrick, to become one of Africa’s biggest gold miners.
Known in its heyday as “Morila the Gorilla”, the mine produced 6.9 million ounces of gold and paid more than $2.5bn to its stakeholders in the form of taxes and dividends. - Africa
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