Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2662 actions· ✨ 89 recent

The Council of Ministers of the Republic of Mali, presided over by General Assimi Goïta at Koulouba Palace, adopted on 6 February 2026 texts creating Société de Patrimoine Minier du Mali (SOPAMIM S.A.) — a wholly state-owned société anonyme charged with holding and managing all state participations in mining companies, implementing the 10% free-carry + optional 20% paid + 5% national-private participation architecture introduced by the 2023 Mining Code. SOPAMIM provides the single corporate vehicle through which renegotiated or newly-awarded state stakes in foreign-operated mines (including Barrick Gold Loulo-Gounkoto, B2Gold Fekola, Allied Gold Sadiola, Resolute Mining Syama, and Endeavour Mining Hounde-Mali) will be consolidated, operationalising the Code Minier's mandate for a *société de patrimoine* and closing the corporate-vehicle gap in Mali's AES/Sahel resource-nationalism architecture.

On 24 November 2025 Barrick Mining Corporation and the Government of Mali announced a comprehensive settlement resolving all disputes arising from the Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex, including the June 2025 provisional state administration order. Under the agreement Barrick commits to pay approximately USD 430 million (≈244 billion CFA francs) to Mali in cash and VAT-credit offsets, formally accedes to Mali's 2023 Mining Code (Loi 2023-040), and receives in exchange: cancellation of all charges against Barrick entities and personnel, release of four detained employees, return of three metric tons of previously seized gold (~USD 400 million), termination of the provisional administration, and a ten-year renewal of the Loulo mine permit (which had been set to expire in February 2026). Full operational control was restored to Barrick on 18 December 2025.

On 19 September 2025 (Communiqué CM N°2025-39/SGG), Mali's Council of Ministers, chaired by General Assimi Goïta, adopted four exploitation-phase "conventions d'établissement" operationalising the 2023 Code Minier (Loi n°2023-040) against named foreign-operated mines: Lithium du Mali S.A. (Goulamina, Ganfeng Lithium), Les Mines de Lithium de Bougouni-S.A. (Foulaboula, Kodal Minerals), SEMOS-S.A. (Sadiola gold, Allied Gold) and SOMISY-S.A. (Syama gold, Resolute Mining). Each convention raises the State's shareholding to 35% (a free non-contributory 10% carry plus up to 25% acquired, of which 5% is reserved for Malian private investors) and converts the stakes into non-contributory, non-dilutable participations carrying priority-dividend rights.

On 16 June 2025 the Tribunal de Commerce de Bamako issued an order placing Barrick Mining's Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex — one of the world's top-10 gold producers at ~720 koz/yr — under provisional state administration for six months, appointing expert-comptable Soumana Makadji as provisional administrator and tasking state mining holding SOREM-SA with operational oversight. Barrick immediately filed for ICSID arbitration and provisional measures. Operations restarted under state management in Q3 2025. A negotiated settlement dated 24 November 2025 saw Barrick pay approximately USD 430 million to Mali to resolve all disputes; provisional administration was terminated and full operational control returned to Barrick in December 2025.

Décret n°2024-0396/PT-RM of 9 July 2024 fixes the conditions and modalities for applying Loi n°2023-040 of 29 August 2023 (the new Code Minier of the Republic of Mali). The decree, adopted in Council of Ministers on 3 July 2024 and signed by the transition presidency, operationalises the 2023 statute that replaces the 2019 mining code (Loi n°2019-022). The new framework raises maximum cumulative state-plus-Malian-private participation in mining ventures to roughly 30–35% (10% free-carry to the state, plus an additional 20% paid participation right and 5% reserved to local private investors), reshapes the fiscal regime (royalties, taxes, exemptions) for new permits and conventions, and pairs with companion local-content Loi n°2023-041 of the same date. The 2024 implementing decree is the operative trigger date for downstream investor disputes (Barrick Loulo-Gounkoto suspension, B2Gold Fekola contract renegotiations, Allied Gold Sadiola, Ganfeng Goulamina lithium ramp).

Loi n° 2023-040 of 29 August 2023, adopted by the Conseil National de Transition (CNT) and promulgated by the Président de la Transition Colonel Assimi Goïta, repeals and replaces the prior Mali Code Minier (Ordonnance n° 2019-022/P-RM du 27 septembre 2019) and constitutes the foundational mining statute for all mineral-title issuance, foreign-investment participation, fiscal architecture, and state-control mechanisms in the Republic of Mali. Key structural innovations include a 35% Malian-side equity floor (10% free-carry to the state + 20% paid- participation option + 5% reserved to local Malian private investors), a special permitting regime for substances minérales d'intérêt stratégique (lithium, uranium, thorium, tungsten, tantalite, cobalt, and rare-earth elements), and zones d'intérêt stratégique reserved for the state and state-controlled vehicles. The Code is the parent statute under which Décret n° 2024-0396/PT-RM (the 2024 implementing decree) and Loi n° 2023-041 (the companion local-content law) operate, and under which the Barrick Loulo-Gounkoto standoff, B2Gold Fekola renegotiation, Allied Gold Sadiola settlement, and Ganfeng Goulamina fiscal escalation are situated.

Loi n° 2023-041 of 29 August 2023 establishes Mali's mandatory local-content framework for the mining sector, requiring titulaires de permis miniers and their sub-contractors to prioritise Malian nationals, local communities, national enterprises, and locally produced goods and services in the procurement and execution of all mining activities. The law mandates three-year renewable procurement plans with cascading preference from Malian citizens to ECOWAS citizens to others, and imposes capacity-building, training, and technology-transfer obligations on licence-holders. It is the procurement-side companion statute to the simultaneously adopted Code Minier (Loi 2023-040), operating under its own implementing decree Décret 2024-0397/PT-RM (July 2024).