Mali military helicopter airlifts gold from Barrick’s Loulo-Gounkoto mine

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Mali military helicopter airlifts gold from Barrick’s Loulo-Gounkoto mine

9:18 CAT | 11 Jul 2025

FILE - A small toy figure and gold imitation are seen in front of the Barrick logo in this illustration taken November 19, 2021. [File photo: Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration]

A Mali military helicopter airlifted gold from the Barrick-owned (NYSE:B) Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex on Thursday, Reuters reported, after previously saying a court-appointed administrator planned to sell the site’s bullion to finance operations.

A helicopter reportedly touched down at the site’s tree-lined landing strip, its passengers were escorted by the mine’s security team to the plant where the gold room is located, and the helicopter took off five hours later with the bullion on board, according to the report.

One ton of gold, worth ~$107M, had remained in the site’s storeroom since January, when three tons of gold were removed to be stored in a bank vault on the orders of a Malian judge, the report said.

The provisional administrator, Mali’s former health minister Soumana Makadji, has said he plans to finance the mine’s operations by selling gold, and the airlifted gold may have been sold for this purpose.

While drilling and other extractive activities have not yet begun, operations at the site’s plant which processes ore stocks into gold restarted on Monday, according to the report, adding that it will take 11-13 days from the restart of the plant to the production of the first gold bars.

Source: Reuters