Mali said a temporary administrator will restart production at Barrick Mining Corp’s Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex, which was put under provisional administration earlier this month.

A dispute between Mali’s military junta and the Canadian miner escalated on June 16 when a court in Bamako ruled the state could take over management of the mine for six months. Barrick shuttered Loulo-Gounkoto – one of its most important assets – after the Malian authorities blocked bullion exports and detained senior employees.

“The situation cannot remain as it is, because we need to protect the workers, we need to protect the factories,” Mines Minister Amadou Keita said on State-owned broadcaster ORTM. The administrator – a former health minister – will “restart operations, produce, pay the workers’ wages, but also produce gold for the national economy,” he said.

The troubles began in 2023 when Mali’s cash-strapped military regime demanded foreign investors make payments for alleged back taxes and adhere to a new mining law granting the state higher royalties and bigger stakes in joint ventures. The owners of other gold mines in the country, including Allied Gold Corp and B2Gold Corp, have reached settlements.

An audit of the industry “highlighted a number of shortcomings including the fact that mining companies were in the habit of depositing the revenue from the sale of gold in banks outside the country,” Keita said in rare public comments on the spat.

Barrick, one of the world’s biggest gold producers, has turned to international arbitration proceedings against Mali. It has asked a tribunal to declare that its subsidiaries possess binding conventions that aren’t subject to legal or regulatory changes, and have the right to operate offshore accounts to hold the proceeds of gold sales.

The company has said it also remains committed to negotiating a “mutually acceptable solution” with the government.

After ousting the elected president five years ago, Mali’s military regime led by General Assimi Goita has strengthened its relationship with Russia and shunned ties with traditional partners like the US and France.