By: OrePulse

Barrick Mining and labor unions at its Loulo-Gounkoto gold operation in western Mali have reached a new contract covering pay and working conditions, defusing a strike set to begin this week, the company and a union representative said.

A Barrick spokesperson confirmed the deal, saying the company had reached terms with the Loulo-Gounkoto unions. Bani Sacko, a union official at the complex, said the two sides met and struck an agreement on Monday, September 21, and that the walkout had since been called off. Sacko said other related strike actions had also been dropped. The unions had put forward a list of 15 demands going into the talks.

Employees at Somilo SA and Gounkoto SA, the joint-venture entities that operate the mine on Barrick's behalf, had lined up a four-day walkout running September 28 through October 1. A separate contractor that handles catering and support services at the site, Food & Events Africa, had planned its own five-day stoppage lasting through October 2. Staff at Mali's mining regulator and several other government bodies overseeing the sector also filed strike notices.

The issues included unpaid overtime, reimbursement of travel and mission costs, and enforcement of labor accords already on the books, along with broader grievances over benefits and working conditions.

Union representative Abdoulaye Coulibaly, affiliated with Mali's National Union of Malian Workers, said the standoff had been defused and that the settlement covers staff at Food & Events Africa as well as Somilo SA and Gounkoto SA.

The settlement marks the latest step in normalizing relations between Barrick and Mali's government following a bruising standoff that began in early 2025. Mali's military-led authorities suspended Barrick's operations at Loulo-Gounkoto in January 2025 after arresting company employees and issuing a warrant to arrest then-chief executive Mark Bristow on allegations of financial crimes. The mine was placed under provisional state administration in June 2025 amid a dispute over a 2023 mining code intended to increase the government's share of mining revenue.

Barrick and the Malian government settled in November 2025 after roughly two years of negotiations over profit-sharing and control of the complex. Under the agreement, Barrick paid $430 million and adopted the terms of the 2023 mining code in exchange for the dropping of charges and the release of four detained staff members. Mali renewed Barrick's mining permit for the Loulo concession for a further ten years in February 2026.

Since operations resumed, output has recovered: Loulo-Gounkoto produced approximately 190,000 ounces of gold in the first half of 2026. Mali is one of Africa's leading gold producers, and the mining code adopted in 2023 was designed to boost the state's share of revenue from the country's natural resources.