AFR, 11-Nov-2024: Resolute Mining loses $500m after junta detains CEO in West Africa

Mark Wembridge, AFR Resources reporter, Nov 11, 2024 – 12.40pm

The tax dispute that prompted a West African military junta to detain three Resolute Mining executives has wiped almost $500 million from the Australian-headquartered gold miner’s market value.

Authorities in the military-led government of Mali are holding Terry Holohan, chief executive of Perth-based Resolute, and two other staff after a meeting on Friday in the capital, Bamako.

Resolute Mining chief executive Terry Holohan is detained in Mali’s capital Bamako. 

Mr Holohan, who is British, and the two executives are being detained in the Economic and Financial Centre of Bamako, the miner said, and are in regular contact with Resolute. “The employees are being treated well and continue to receive support on the ground from the UK and international embassies and consulates,” the company said in a statement.

Resolute shares fell 33 per cent to 45¢ on Monday following news of the arrests, erasing $468 million from the company’s market capitalisation. Resolute shares were trading as high as 88¢ three weeks ago.

The dispute is thought to involve tax payments and the potential renegotiation of contracts between Resolute and Malian authorities.

The impoverished but mineral rich nation earns roughly 80 per cent of its export revenues from gold, and the arrests are seen to be part of a move by Mali’s military government to extract more money from foreign companies.

Malian President Assimi Goita introduced a new mining code last year that allows the government to acquire up to 35 per cent of projects and requires all foreign companies to “renegotiate” existing contracts.

At a quarterly earnings call last month, Resolute chief financial officer Chris Eger said the company was receiving more tax demands from West African governments. “As we are generating a lot more cash because of the gold price environment, one of the unfortunate byproducts of it is that people are looking for possibly a bigger piece of the pie,” he said. “It is very common where we operate, and these audits happen every year.”

In its 2023 annual report, Resolute identified “total tax exposures of up to US$250 million ($380 million) reflecting new assessments received”, of which US$112 million had already been recognised. In the same report, Mr Holohan noted Resolute’s “excellent relations with the governments and communities in Mali, Senegal and Guinea”.

The miner posted net profit after tax of US$92 million in 2023, from revenues of US$631 million.

Heat on foreign firms

The arrests mark the second time in roughly a month that employees of a foreign mining company have been held by Malian authorities.

Four employees of Barrick Gold were held for several days in September before being released when the Canadian miner agreed to pay officials in Mali around 50 billion West African francs ($124 million).

“There is always an elevated level of country risk when operating in that part of the world,” said a mining analyst, adding the detention of a company CEO was “definitely not usual practice”.

Mr Holohan and his team were in Bamako for negotiations with mining and tax authorities about Resolute’s “business practices” in Mali, which included the government’s claims for additional payments.

Resolute, which has a dual listing in Australia and the UK, said Mali’s claims were “unsubstantiated”, that it had “followed all official processes” and “provided the authorities with detailed responses to all the claims made”.

Resolute’s interests in Mali are concentrated on its Syama mine in the country’s south near the border with Côte d’Ivoire. Resolute has 80 per cent of the mine - which is forecast to produce more than 200,000 ounces of gold in 2024 - with the Mali government owning 20 per cent. Resolute also operates the Mako gold mine in neighbouring Senegal.

“While Resolute is working toward a settlement with the government of Mali to help secure the long-term future of the Syama gold mine, the upmost priority remains the safety and wellbeing of its employees, who are receiving support on the ground from the UK and international embassies and consulates,” Resolute said.

Mr Holohan joined Resolute in 2021 as chief operating officer, before shifting to the chief executive role a year later.

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Disc: Not holding.

Source: RSG-Update-in-Relation-to-Negotiations-with-Malian-Government.PDF [18-Nov-2024: 10:04am]

Then:

AFR: Resolute Mining to pay $250m to settle West Africa tax dispute

Mark Wembridge, AFR Resources reporter, Nov 18, 2024 – 2.07pm

Resolute Mining will pay Mali’s military-led government $US160 million ($247 million) to settle a tax dispute that resulted in the arrest of the ASX-listed gold miner’s chief executive and two other staff.

The three Resolute executives, all British nationals, have been held by the ruling junta for more than a week as part of efforts to extract more money from foreign companies that operate in the impoverished but mineral-rich West African nation.

In a statement on Monday, Resolute said it would pay Mali $US80 million in cash now and another $US80 million in the coming months.

Resolute, which is listed in Australia and the UK, said the payments would settle “all outstanding claims by the government against the company, including those related to tax, customs levies, maintenance and management of offshore accounts”.

Resolute said the three employees – which include chief executive Terence Holohan – were still being held by authorities. They remained safe and were in regular contact with the company and international embassies, it said, adding it was “working with the government on the remaining procedural steps” for their release.

Mali’s ruling junta seized control in a 2021 coup d’etat and has used ransom-style techniques to force foreign mining companies to renegotiate their contracts.

Mali’s President Assimi Goita rewrote the mining code last year to allow the military-led government to acquire up to 35 per cent of projects, up from 20 per cent previously. Foreign miners have been forced to renegotiate their mining contracts in the country, while some tax breaks have been abolished and repayments for back taxes have been demanded.

Toronto-based Barrick Gold recently paid $US85 million to secure the release of four of its executives as part of Mali’s reported demands for $US350 million in back taxes. Other Canada-listed miners Allied Gold, B2Gold and Robex Resources have recently renegotiated their operational agreements with Mali.

Mr Holohan and the two other employees were detained in Mali’s capital, Bamako, on November 8 after a meeting to discuss the junta’s demand for payment of back taxes and a renegotiation of terms over the Syama gold mine, Resolute’s biggest asset in the country.

The miner previously rejected Mali’s claims for more money, calling them “unsubstantiated” and noting that it had “followed all official processes” in the country.

Resolute’s ASX-listed shares were suspended on Thursday but have continued to trade on the London Stock Exchange, which has different rules regarding suspension.

The gold miner’s ASX shares have fallen from 67¢ before the arrests to 40¢ when they were halted, wiping more than $600 million from the company’s market capitalisation. On Monday, the shares resumed trading in Australia and fell a further 5 per cent to 38¢.

Resolute’s Mali interests are concentrated on its Syama mine in the country’s south, near the Cote d’Ivoire border. Resolute owns 80 per cent of the mine – which is forecast to produce more than 200,000 ounces of gold in 2024 – with the Mali government owning the remainder. Resolute also operates the Mako gold mine in neighbouring Senegal.

The shakedown by Mali’s government coincides with a steep rise in the price of gold over the past year. At a quarterly earnings call last month, chief financial officer Chris Eger said Resolute was receiving more tax demands from West African governments due to the soaring gold price.

The junta’s takeover has led to Mali shifting away from the European sphere of influence and towards Russia. A UN peacekeeping mission and European military forces have been withdrawn from Mali since the junta took over, while mercenaries from the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group have been deployed.

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RSG closed down another -5.47% today at 38 cps, being -56% below the 87.5 cps they closed at just 4 weeks ago, before their CEO and two other employees were detained in Mali; they still haven't been released, and are unlikley to be released until at least the first US$80m has been received, and possibly the second US$80m as well.

Based on RSG having 2,129,050,013 (i.e. 2.13 billion) shares on issue, their market capitalisation 4 weeks ago (@ 87.5 cps) was A$1.86 billion. Based on today's 38 cps close, they now have a market cap of A$809 million. Most of that lost value (the A$1.05 Billion drop in market value) has ocurred in the past week, since this news emerged.

Yeah, nah, not for me.

18-Nov-2024: Money of Mine podcast: 0:38:27 Resolute pays US$160m to settle Mali dispute

JD says that after the second US$80 million has been paid to Mali by RSG, due to the shakedown of the company by the Mali junta who are still holding RSG's CEO and two other employees in the Mali capital Bamako (shown below), RSG will be in a net debt position owing $15m more than their remaining cash, based on RSG having had cash and bullion at the end of the September quarter of U$188 million along with drawn debt of US$43 million and other undrawn external debt facilities worth an additional US$140 million with CitiBank and NEDBank, the latter being one of the largest financial services groups in Africa. JD asks the question, would Citi and NEDBank still be happy with maintaining those undrawn credit facilities with RSG when RSG's cash balance has just dropped from US$188 million to US$28 million and they now already owe more than their cash balance, BEFORE any of that additional US$140 million of debt facilties has been drawn.

Additionally, RSG had said before this latest episode (i.e. they said last month...) that they were receiving additional demands for more money above and beyond their existing agreements from both the Mali and Senegal authorities - RSG have two gold mines, their Syama Gold Mine in Mali and the Mako Gold Mine in Senegal. We've seen how serious the Mali authorities have been about getting what they think they deserve to be paid; how different is Senegal? If I was the banker at Citi responsible for Resolute Mining, I wouldn't be feeling too confident that I'm going to get all of my money back, and even if the bank has security over the actual mines, what is that really worth when you can't do anything in the country unless the rulers of the country allow you to?

Interesting. I've been warned away from Resolute before, and I probably wouldn't have wanted to own their shares regardless because the longer term TSRs just haven't been there; they have a history of stuffing things up somehow, or else being in the firing line of some really bad luck, on more than one occasion.

If luck is when preparation meets opportunity, then perhaps bad luck is when lack of preparation meets unfortunate circumstances, and Resolute seem to have more than their fair share of unfortunate circumstances, so perhaps they needed to be more prepared for them, as they seem to keep happening.

I don't think this share price is going to go back into anything resembling that strong 7-month uptrend they were in up until a month ago.

I think there's still plenty of danger here, even after their CEO and his two collegues are eventually released.

21-Nov-2024: 5:42pm (Sydney time): Company-Update-Regarding-Mali.PDF

Confirmation of Release of Employees in Mali

Resolute Mining (ASX/LSE:RSG) confirms that the Company’s CEO, Terence Holohan, and the two other employees, have been released from the Economic and Financial Centre of Bamako, in Mali. All three employees are safe and well and have departed the country. Resolute will provide further updates as and when appropriate. 

Friday 6th December 2024: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/mali-issues-arrest-warrant-barrick-gold-ceo-document-shows-2024-12-05/

Mali issues arrest warrant for Barrick Gold CEO, document shows

By Fadimata Kontao, Portia Crowe and David Lewis, December 6, 2024, 5:13 AM

Mark Bristow, chief executive officer of Barrick Gold, speaks during an interview at the Investing in African Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town, South Africa, February 5, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

Summary:

• Mali seeks more income following gold price rally
• Resolute's CEO and other employees were also detained
• Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso all increasing pressure on miners

BAMAKO, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Mali, one of Africa's biggest gold producers, has issued an arrest warrant for Barrick Gold (ABX.Toronto, GOLD.NYSE) Chief Executive Mark Bristow, a warrant document seen on Thursday by Reuters showed, escalating a dispute with the Canadian mining company.

The West African country's junta-led government is seeking more income from the sector to bolster state revenues as prices of the precious metal rally and has detained mining executives to put pressure on foreign companies operating there.

Four senior local employees of Barrick were briefly detained in September as the government demanded about $500 million in unpaid taxes, and then arrested again last month pending trial.

Bristow told Reuters in early November that the world's No. 2 gold miner was confident of resolving claims and disputes with authorities before the end of the year.

He is accused of money laundering and violating financial regulations, the warrant document, first reported by Malian media and dated Dec. 4, showed. Its authenticity was confirmed by two sources close to the matter who asked not to be identified.

Barrick said the company "will not be commenting" on the reported arrest warrant, responding to a Reuters request. Barrick's shares were down 2.9% on the Toronto stock exchange after the news.

Bristow, a South African national who shuttles between Britain and the United States, last travelled to Mali in July, according to the company website. Barrick has its headquarters in Toronto.

Another document showed Mali had also issued an arrest warrant for Cheick Abass Coulibaly, general manager at Barrick's Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex in Mali.

Australia's Resolute Mining (RSG.asx) also had its British CEO and two other employees detained by Mali's military-led authorities over a tax dispute last month.

They were released after the miner agreed to pay US$160 million [AU$250 million].

The detentions and arrest warrants in Mali highlight the challenges faced by international mining companies in the region, where Burkina Faso and Niger have also increased pressure on them.

Burkina junta leader Ibrahim Traore said in October the country plans to withdraw mining permits from some foreign companies and will seek to produce more of its own gold.

Niger has taken control of French nuclear fuels company Orano's Somair uranium mine, the company said on Wednesday.

The three countries have shifted away from traditional allies such as the United States and former colonial power France, and grown closer to Russia, which is helping provide security for their military leaders.

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Reporting by David Lewis, Fadimata Kontao, Portia Crowe; additional reporting by Divyia Rajagopal in Toronto; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Bate Felix, Silvia Aloisi and Barbara Lewis [Reuters]

Emphasis and bold type added by me [Bear77]

My thoughts: So Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are all off limits now for international gold companies, and uranium companies too in the case of Niger. Yep, I'm back to totally avoiding West African gold mining companies, so I've exited the only good one on the ASX, Perseus (PRU), because as good as they are, I believe that soon enough they'll all be treated much the same by the market; there'll be a significant risk discount in the share price. And because the risks are increasing due to Russian involvement, as detailed above, those risk discounts are likely to only increase over time, putting further downward pressure on the share prices of all gold companies operating in West Africa, whether they are operating in the safer countries like Ghana and the Ivory Coast a.k.a. Côte d'Ivoire, or the riskier ones.

Barrick are a bit different because they are the second largest gold company in the world and they mine gold in many different countries around the world, so their West African exposure is not likely to hurt them as much as smaller companies who have all of their mines in West Africa.

The chart below shows the share price over the past 3 months of RSG, Barrick Gold (GOLD.NYSE), WAF and PRU. We can see that RSG has been smashed, and rightly so, and Barrick is trending down, but PRU and WAF are holding their ground so far.

Note that "GOLD" in this chart isn't the physical gold bullion ETF/ETP that has the ticker code GOLD.asx, it's the New York Stock Exchange ticker code for Barrick Gold, the second largest gold miner in the world, and the subject of this article on Friday that I've reproduced above.

I expect that WAF and PRU are going to be caught up in increasing negative sentiment surrounding gold mining in West Africa at some stage, as things progressively get worse over there, which looks to me like the most likely trajectory with Russia's involvement increasing in the area. I managed to get out of PRU at a profit recently, and I do like them, but I'm not going to fight the tide that I expect is coming. There are so many good Aussie gold companies mining gold right here in Australia, I don't need to move up that risk curve into West African gold companies at this point I reckon.

Meanwhile in Niger:

https://www.mining.com/niger-seizes-oranos-somair-uranium-operation-as-juntas-across-africa-pressure-western-miners/

Niger seizes Orano’s Somair operation as juntas across Africa pressure Western miners

Blair McBride - The Northern Miner | December 5, 2024 | 8:23 am Energy News Africa Europe Uranium 

France-based uranium miner Orano has lost operational control of its Somair mine in Niger [see photo above] in the latest move against Western miners in West Africa’s volatile Sahel region.

In neighbouring Mali, Resolute Mining (ASX: RSG; LSE: RSG) is paying US$160 million [AU$250 million] after the government held its CEO for 12 days in November. Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) employees have been detained at least twice as the junta pressures the Canadian miner over a $500 million tax bill.

Orano suspended Somair’s production in October after months of interference by the military government.

“The decisions taken at the company’s board meetings are no longer being applied,” Orano said in a release on Wednesday. “The production expenses which continue to be incurred on the site are worsening the company’s financial situation with every passing day.”

Niger, the world’s seventh largest uranium producer by volume, supplying about 5% of global demand, has been under military rule since a coup d’etat in July of last year. The West African country’s government in June withdrew a mining permit for Orano’s Imourare project. A month later, the government revoked the mining licence for GoviEx Uranium‘s (TSXV: GXU) Madaouela project.

While Niger’s tightening control over uranium operations won’t necessarily affect global supply, it’s part of a wider trend of resource nationalism where military regimes in the Sahel region are “seeking to renegotiate mining contracts and even seeking nationalization,” according to a recent report from London-based think tank Chatham House.

Niger is part of the Sahel Alliance with gold producers Mali and Burkina Faso distancing themselves from the traditional Economic Community of West African States and former colonial ruler France. They’re realigning with Russia and its military group Wagner that is now integrated with Kremlin policy. The alliance forms part of an arc of instability on a belt of junta-led countries stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, Chatham House notes.

Orano holds a 63.4% stake in Somair, with Niger government agency Sopamin holding 36.6%.

‘No immediate market impact’

BMO Capital Markets analyst Colin Hamilton said in a research note that due to the ongoing halt of uranium exports from Niger, there would be no immediate market impact. However, Orano will likely have to source alternative uranium supplies to power its large number of nuclear plants.

“We currently model limited output from Niger next year, but anticipate that material flows to Russia and/or China in future years,” he said.

Orano added that government officials are preventing efforts to suspend production expenses so that salaries can be paid to employees. They’re also refusing to export Somair’s production, Orano said.

The company said it plans to defend its rights “before competent bodies” and hopes that a united effort by stakeholders can lead to the resumption of Somair’s activities. The French firm said in late October that since the coup, its efforts to find alternative means of exporting Somair’s production were ignored by the government, and it had suspended activities. Debts owed by Sopamin have also not been paid, it said.

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See Also: BBC: Niger junta takes control of French uranium mine [4-Dec-2024]

Will Ross & Danai Nesta Kupemba, BBC News

Uranium is one of Niger's major exports

French nuclear firm Orano says the military authorities in Niger have taken control of its uranium mining operations in the West African country.

After seizing power in a coup in July last year, Niger's military rulers said they would revamp rules regulating the mining of raw materials by foreign companies.

In June, they withdrew Orano's permit to exploit one of the world's largest uranium deposits. Orano then suspended production.

This marks another escalation in the unravelling relationship between France and Niger, following the expulsion of French troops from its former colony.

Niger's authorities have not commented on Orano's statement.

The country accounts for about 5% of global uranium output, making it one of the world's top 10 producers of a vital raw material in the generation of nuclear power.

Before the coup, Niger accounted for 15-20% of France's uranium imports.

Orano has for months been warning of interference in the running of its local unit, Somair, in which Niger has a 36.6% stake.

The company said it had been struggling to export uranium because Niger's border with Benin was closed for security reasons.

A total of 1,150 tonnes of uranium concentrate from 2023 and 2024 stocks haven't been exported, according to Orano. This is worth about $210m (£165m).

Orano said it intended to "defend its rights before the competent bodies" but also wanted to work with "all stakeholders to re-establish a stable and sustainable mode of operation".

Niger's military rulers have made it clear they were not happy with the way foreign companies had been awarded licences and believe that the country should earn more from the minerals found under its soil.

It is possible that with France sidelined, Russian and Turkish firms will get a chance to invest.

In November, Niger's Minister of Mines Colonel Abarchi Ousmane told a Russian news agency, that France's lack of recognition of the military rulers had also affected relations between the two countries.

"The French state, through its head of state, has declared that it does not recognise the current authorities in Niger. Does it seem possible to you that we, the state of Niger, would allow French companies to continue extracting our natural resources?" he said.

Niger achieved independence from France in 1960 and the former colonial power managed to secure exclusive access to Niger's uranium supply through various agreements.

But since the coup, military leader Abdourahamane Tiani has been adamant about wrestling power from the West.

You may also be interested in:

• Why Russia's Africa propaganda warrior was sent home
• How has Niger changed since the coup?
• Ecowas in crisis: Why West Africa's united front is in tatters

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Disc: Not Held.