{"id":3915,"date":"2026-01-22T19:35:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/malian-president-tightens-direct-control-over-the-mining-sector"},"modified":"2026-01-22T22:25:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T22:25:05","slug":"malian-president-tightens-direct-control-over-the-mining-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/malian-president-tightens-direct-control-over-the-mining-sector","title":{"rendered":"Malian President Tightens Direct Control over the Mining Sector"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press. <\/strong> <\/span>The President of Mali\u2019s Military Council has created a new ministerial post to oversee the mining sector, thereby strengthening the presidency\u2019s direct oversight of the vital gold industry, and has appointed a former executive from the mining company \u201cBarrick\u201d as CEO to fill the position.<\/p>\n<p>Official documents indicate that the minister will have the authority to oversee the implementation of mining policy, monitor compliance with mining law, and review reports submitted by rights holders \u2013 responsibilities previously handled by the Ministry of Mines.<\/p>\n<p>According to a presidential decree issued on January 19, Hilaire Bibian Diarra was appointed to the post. He came from Barrick and had joined the government last year while leading negotiations on behalf of the company regarding control of the Loulo-Gounkoto complex.<\/p>\n<p>Diarra had been appointed as a special advisor to the presidency during the dispute over Mali\u2019s largest industrial gold mine, where President Assimi Goi\u0308ta\u2019s government sought to impose higher taxes and greater state participation in mining projects. The move was widely seen as a strategic blow to the Canadian mining company. Diarra was not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n<p>A senior government official stated that the presidency is taking the lead in overseeing mining, with decisions regarding presidential exploitation permits made by the presidency, and contract negotiations \u2013 including the Barrick dispute \u2013 managed from the presidential palace. The Ministry of Finance now handles financial matters, while the Ministry of Mines focuses on regulation.<\/p>\n<p>Data from the Ministry of Mines showed that the law had raised concerns among miners and led to a two-year confrontation with Barrick, resulting in a 23% decline in industrial gold production in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Africa<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press. The President of Mali\u2019s Military Council has created a new ministerial post to oversee the mining sector, thereby strengthening the presidency\u2019s direct oversight of the vital gold industry, and has appointed a former executive from the mining company \u201cBarrick\u201d as CEO to fill the position. Official documents indicate that the minister will have the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":3914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,40],"tags":[120],"class_list":{"0":"post-3915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-africa"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Malian President Tightens Direct Control over the Mining Sector - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press. The President of Mali\u2019s Military Council ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/malian-president-tightens-direct-control-over-the-mining-sector\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Malian President Tightens Direct Control over the Mining Sector\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press. The President of Mali\u2019s Military Council ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/malian-president-tightens-direct-control-over-the-mining-sector\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Africa Press English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-22T19:35:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-22T22:25:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/01\/sm_1769120610.198915.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/malian-president-tightens-direct-control-over-the-mining-sector#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/malian-president-tightens-direct-control-over-the-mining-sector\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Malian President Tightens Direct Control over the Mining Sector\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-22T19:35:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-22T22:25:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/malian-president-tightens-direct-control-over-the-mining-sector\"},\"wordCount\":293,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/malian-president-tightens-direct-control-over-the-mining-sector#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/01\/sm_1769120610.198915.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Economy\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/malian-president-tightens-direct-control-over-the-mining-sector#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/malian-president-tightens-direct-control-over-the-mining-sector\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/malian-president-tightens-direct-control-over-the-mining-sector\",\"name\":\"Malian President Tightens Direct Control over the Mining Sector - Africa Press English\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/malian-president-tightens-direct-control-over-the-mining-sector#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/malian-president-tightens-direct-control-over-the-mining-sector#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/01\/sm_1769120610.198915.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-22T19:35:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-22T22:25:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"-article-header-tag\\\"> Africa-Press. 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