Resolute boss Terry Holohan takes leave of absence after Mali ordeal
Resolute Mining appears to have at least temporarily staved off handing an even bigger chunk of its Syama gold mine to the military junta in Mali as the fallout continues from the detention of chief executive Terry Holohan.
Resolute Mining appears to have at least temporarily staved off handing an even bigger chunk of its Syama gold mine to the military junta in Mali as the fallout continues from the detention of chief executive Terry Holohan and two other employees in the troubled West African nation.
Mr Holohan will take a leave of absence in the wake of his harrowing ordeal in Mali, where the military junta led by Assimi Goita has been accused of shaking down Resolute and other gold miners.
The three Resolute employees were released last month after Resolute agreed to pay $US160m ($251m). The company, dual listed in London and on the ASX, also signed a protocol with the Mali government that included a framework for discussions about the long-term future of the Syama mine and the safety of Resolute employees.
Resolute said on Friday that the government would hold 20 per cent preference share interest in Syama alongside the 80 per cent held in ordinary shares by a Resolute’s subsidiary in Mali.
Resolute faced the prospect of giving up a 35 per cent stake under a transition to Mali’s 2023 Mining Code.
It remains in talks with Mali’s rulers about the terms of the protocol signed on November 18 and the transition to the Code.
The transition will see corporate income tax paid by Resolute jump from 25 per cent to 30 per cent, and it will start paying fuel duties.
Resolute is required to pay royalties on a sliding scale, including at a rate of 10.5 per cent when the gold price is higher than $2500 an ounce.
A final instalment of $US30m as part of the $US160m “settlement payment” agreed to secure the release the three employees will be made at the end of this month from cash reserves.
Mr Holohan were freed after almost two weeks in detention and left the country immediately.
Resolute has remained silent about what security advice it received before the three men travelled to Mali. The Australian reported last month that executives with links to Resolute’s Mali subsidiary, Societe des Mines de Syama, were detained earlier this year amid the escalating tensions with the government.
The Resolute share price fell 4 per cent to 42c in trading on the ASX on Friday and has more than halved since October.
Mail detained four Barrick Gold employees at the Loulo-Gounkoto mine soon after the release of the Resolute trio, and at the start of December issued an arrest warrant for Barrick chief executive Mark Bristow.
Mali has claimed Barrick, the world’s second biggest gold miner, owes $US500m in taxes and fines.
“Our attempts to find a mutually acceptable resolution have so far been unsuccessful, but we remain committed to engage with the government in order to resolve all the claims levied against the company and its employees and secure the early release of our unjustly imprisoned colleagues,” Mr Bristow said after the November arrests.
Land-locked Mali is caught up in a political, security and economic crisis, and since 2012 has been battling al-Qaeda and Islamic State armed groups, as well as a separatist insurgency in the north.
More Coverage
