Blasting activity at Barrick Mining (TSX:ABX)’s Loulo underground gold mine in Mali is scheduled to begin on October 15, four months after a court-appointed provisional administration took control of the site, Reuters reported on Friday, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
The blasting, which involves breaking down gold deposits using explosives, will resume after the administrators resolve unpaid bills with subcontractors Sandvik and Maxam, the sources said.
It will be the first mining activity taking place at the site under the provisional administration, which has just been transporting and processing existing ore stocks at its plant since taking control.
Barrick suspended operations at the Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex following tense negotiations with Mali’s military-led government over how to implement a new mining code that increased taxes and gives the country a greater ownership stake in assets.
In June, a Malian court appointed provisional administrators, led by former health minister Soumana Makadji, to restart operations at the complex.
The Loulo mine has since produced about 1.07 metric tons of gold from ore stocks that had been mined before the suspension, according to the second source.
Barrick and the Malian government are also in international arbitration at the World Bank’s arbitration court, which is expected to rule on the legitimacy of the provisional administration this month, one of the sources said.