BAMAKO – Industrial gold production in Mali is expected to fall by 8.3% year-on-year to 59.77 t this year compared with 2019 due to falling output at several mines, Mali's mines and petroleum ministry said on Wednesday.
It said total gold production is expected at 65.7 t in 2020, including 6 t from the artisanal, or small-scale mining sector, compared with 71.1 t a year ago.
Companies operating in Mali's mining sector includes Barrick Gold, Resolute Mining, Anglogold Ashanti and B2Gold.
Reserves at Anglogold Ashanti's Sadiola mine is reaching depletion phase, and will produce 832 kg compared with 4.6 t last year, mines ministry official Mamadou Sidibé told Reuters.
He added that output at Barrick's Morila mine is expected at 1.9 t, compared with 3.5 t the previous year, while Resolute's Finkolo mine will produce 440 kg compared 6.6 t in 2019.
Other mines, such as Resolute's Somisy, and B2Gold's Fekola mines, are expected to boost production, the ministry said.