Facts-19 Feb 2023 17:01
The Mali .gov has not stopped issuing mining permits it has suspended issuing further permits.
Via Reuters
Tuesday November 29, 2022 03:52
BAMAKO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Mali has suspended the issuance of mining permits until further notice as it works to improve the procedure, the government said in a statement late on Monday.
"The allocation of mining titles is suspended throughout the territory as of Monday, November 28, 2022. From this date, no application for a mining title will be received or processed by the competent services," said the mines ministry.
It said it will issue another statement when the suspension is lifted.
The new government said in September that it will carry out a complete inventory of existing mining contracts, titles and licenses and was ready to renegotiate permits that were not in the country’s interest.
The cancelled licences include a range of permits covering a surface area of about 13,000 sq km (5,000 square miles), but do not involve mines already in production.
“It is the result of the inventory that was launched a few months ago by the department, 130 permits, that is about 30 percent of all total permits have been annulled,” said Hassimi Sidibe, a technical adviser in the ministry told Reuters.
He added that the cancelled permits include those held by Malians as well as foreigners and targeted those where no development has taken place.
In my view about time too, considering Mali produce over 600 tons of gold annually.