Courtesy of The Africa Report, a look at Mali’s gold industry:

After a slight rebound in 2022, gold production, the driving force behind Mali’s exports, will stall in 2023 according to government forecasts.

Gold production in Mali, which is facing major security and economic challenges, is like a rollercoaster ride.

Industrial production of the yellow metal increased by 4% in 2022 to reach 66.2 tonnes, compared to 63.4 tonnes in 2021, according to official figures.

However, this upward trend will not continue this year, as production is expected to fall by 3.5% to stabilise at 63.9 tonnes, according to the latest estimates released this week by the ministry of mines.

Resource depletion?
Mali – one of the continent’s major gold producers along with Ghana, South Africa and Burkina Faso – expects its subsoil to underperform.

A drop in production is expected at Loulo-Gounkoto and Fekola, the country’s two main mines, said Mamadou Sidibé, head of the ministry’s statistics department, as quoted by Reuters.

Mali’s gold sector, which accounts for nearly 80% of Bamako’s exports and generates about 10% of its gross domestic product (GDP), is dominated by the Canadian giant Barrick Gold, followed by its compatriot B2Gold and Australia’s Resolute Mining.

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By 2023, production of the first is expected to reach 21.1 tonnes, the second 18.4 tonnes and the third 7 tonnes, according to government forecasts.

While some deposits are being depleted, operators are working to strengthen them on Malian soil. Last October, at a conference in Bamako, Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow detailed his plans. “We will continue to invest in exploration to extend the life of the Loulo-Gounkoto complex,” he said.

At the end of 2022, its competitor B2Gold highlighted a $35m exploration programme, part of which included drilling 169,000 metres of the Fekola mine to increase reserves and mine life.

While the marketing of the precious metal remains subject to price fluctuations, the price of gold remains linked to the evolution of inflation, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).

The institution specialising in the development of the gold industry sees the possible slowing of price increases and the weakening of the dollar as an opportunity for producing countries to optimise their revenues.