by Nurat Uthman
Australia’s Resolute Mining said on Friday it paid a further $50 million to Mali as part of negotiations to settle a tax dispute for the release of its CEO and two other executives who were detained by the government earlier this month.
Shares of the miner rose as much as 7.2% before paring some gains to trade at 5.4% higher, as of 0002 GMT.
The miner’s top boss Terence Holohan and two other employees were released by Mali government, the company had said in a statement on Nov. 21.
The executives had gone to the capital city of Bamako to hold discussions with the mining and tax authorities regarding general activities related to the company’s business practices in Mali.
After negotiating with the West African nation’s government, Resolute had agreed to pay $160 million to resolve the tax dispute, with $80 million being already paid, the company said in a statement on Nov. 18.
The Perth-headquartered company expects to pay the remaining $30 million by the end of this year, it said.
Resolute also said that operations at its Syama mine had not incurred any problems and continued as usual.
Syama gold mine, one of the company’s two operational mines contributed nearly two-thirds of its annual sales of 329,061 ounces (9.33 metric tons) in 2023.
Resolute owns an 80% stake in the project, while Mali’s government holds the rest.
