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(Updates to add investor reaction, details, shares)
By Helen Reid and Zandi Shabalala
JOHANNESBURG/LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Gold mining
companies in Mali said they were operating as usual, while
monitoring a deepening political crisis that 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.
B2Gold, Resolute Mining ,
AngloGold Ashanti and Hummingbird Resources
all said their mines were producing and staff were safe.
Exploration firm Cora Gold said operations at its gold
project continued.
But traders sold shares, taking the view political
uncertainty in Mali, which is also battling a jihadist
insurgency in the north of the country, is a growing risk.
Resolute Mining shares fell by more than 14%, Hummingbird
dropped 8%, and AngloGold Ashanti fell 3%.
"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.
Gold operations in the vast, land-locked nation are located
in the south and west, hundreds of kilometres from the capital
Bamako where the coup took place. Many miners continued to
operate during a 2012 coup.
However, the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) has ordered the regional closure of borders with Mali.
That could complicate re-supplying the mining sector which
accounted for 9.7% of Mali's GDP in 2019.
B2Gold said its Fekola mine had sufficient supplies to
maintain activities through the end of the third quarter "and
beyond if needed".
Mali's gold output rose to 71.1 tonnes in 2019, the
government has said, and the state earned revenue of 403.6
billion CFA ($734,311,051) from gold mining companies.
Analysts said future production and investment was in doubt.
"In the longer term, there are more clouds for mining
investors as this is the second coup in eight years. It will add
to an already very high risk premium that people associate with
Mali," Vincent Rouget, analyst at Control Risks Group said.
(Reporting by Helen Reid in Johannesburg and Zandi Shabalala in
London; Editing by David Clarke and Barbara Lewis)
