By: OrePulse

Russia's state-owned geological company Rosgeologiya said Wednesday it has signed agreements with Mali's Ministry of Mines to produce a digital geological map of the country and to build an information system for managing its mining sector.

The agreements were signed by Zarubezhgeologia, Rosgeologiya's unit for projects outside Russia, on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa forum in Moscow, the company said. The forum brought together Russian state entities and African governments to discuss economic cooperation, according to the statement.

Under the deals, Zarubezhgeologia will compile a medium-scale geological map covering two areas that together make up more than half of Mali's territory, identifying zones the company considers prospective for mineral exploration. The company will also build an information system intended to help Mali's government manage geological data, process mineral licensing applications and carry out regulatory oversight of the mining sector, according to the statement.

Alexey Desyatkin, the head of Zarubezhgeologia, said the project was designed to make information about Mali's mineral resources more accessible and more transparent, including for prospective investors, the company said. Mali's Ministry of Mines did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the agreements.

Mali ranks among Africa's largest gold producers and is also working to develop lithium and other minerals, the statement said. The planned geological map and information system are intended to support that broader effort to catalogue and license the country's mineral resources, giving authorities and companies a shared record of where deposits are believed to lie.

Mali's government, led by a military administration that took power in a 2020 coup, has broadened its cooperation with Russia across the security, mining and energy sectors in recent years, according to the statement. Neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, both also under military-led governments that came to power through coups, have taken comparable steps to deepen cooperation with Russia, the statement said.

The mapping and licensing-data project is among a series of resource and infrastructure agreements that Russian state entities have signed with governments in the Sahel region since 2020, as those administrations have sought cooperation with a wider range of international partners. No financial terms of the Mali agreements were disclosed in the statement.