The West African country's military-led authorities held Resolute CEO Terence Holohan and two other executives on Friday following talks with local mining and tax authorities.

"Resolute has followed all official processes with respect to its affairs and has provided the authorities with detailed responses to all the claims made," the gold miner said on Monday in a filing, opens new tab. It had confirmed the detentions at the weekend and said it was in regular contact with the employees, and they were being treated well.

Mali is one of Africa's top gold producers and the detention of foreign officials is becoming part of a pattern as the government seeks to extract more income from the sector.

Mali's government, which has not commented on the detentions, is seeking to renegotiate existing contracts in line with new mining laws that require state and private interests in projects to rise to 35% from 20%.

It is not alone in seeking a larger share of revenues from its minerals. The junta-led government in neighbouring Burkina Faso said this month it planned to strip some foreign firms of permits. Niger's military government has also revoked permits.

Since Mali ousted Western forces and turned to Russia for military support in its fight against Islamist militants, there has been speculation among sources close to talks in Mali that any permits stripped from existing operators might be handed to Russian firms.


So far, however, this has not happened.

Resolute owns two operational gold mines in Mali. The larger one in Syama is expected to produce 205 000-215 000 ounces of gold in 2024., opens new tab The second in Mako is expected to produce between 140,000-150,000 ounces.

Resolute said, opens new tab the safety of staff was its top priority in a statement issued over the weekend.

The detentions follow the brief arrest in September of four senior Malian staff working for Barrick Gold, the world's second-largest gold miner. Barrick has since said that is expects to resolve claims and disputes before the year ends.

Mali is demanding about $500 million in unpaid taxes from Barrick, Reuters has reported citing sources, as the government tries to cash in on the precious metal rally.

Resolute shares were trading as low as A$0.455 on Monday, their worst day since October 2008.

The stock was down 30.6% to A$0.465 at 0242 GMT and more than 38.5 million shares had been exchanged, more than twice the monthly average volume of 14.8 million shares.


--Reuters--