(Adds statement from Barrick)
By Helen Reid and Zandi Shabalala
JOHANNESBURG/LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - 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% 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%%, Hummingbird dropped
9.4%, B2Gold fell 8.8%, AngloGold Ashanti lost 4% and Barrick
fell 2.7%. Cora Gold shares were down 9.3%.
"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, asking not to be named.
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 closure of land and air borders with
Mali.
That complicates logistics for the mining sector, which
accounted for 9.7% of Mali's GDP in 2019.
It was not immediately clear whether miners would be able to
export their gold - typically flown out of Mali to be refined -
while air borders are shut. Mines would also likely be unable to
import supplies until borders reopen.
Barrick said Loulo-Gounkoto had "adequate inventory" for its
requirements and management had taken steps to secure its supply
lines.
B2Gold said its Fekola mine had sufficient supplies to
maintain activities through the end of the third quarter "and
beyond if needed".
Africa's fourth-biggest producer of gold, Mali's 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; Additional reporting by Jeff Lewis in Toronto; Editing
by Barbara Lewis and Mark Potter)
Hummingbird (HUM)
