BARRICK Mining has reached a new labour agreement with unions at its Loulo-Gounkoto gold mine in Mali, easing the threat of strike action, Reuters reported.
The Canadian miner signed a new collective bargaining agreement with unions representing workers at the complex, Barrick and a union official confirmed.
Bani Sacko, a union official at Loulo-Gounkoto, told Reuters that an agreement was reached on September 21 and planned strike action had since been called off.
The unions had submitted 15 demands. Workers at Barrick subsidiaries Somilo and Gounkoto had earlier threatened to strike at the end of September over issues including overtime pay, reimbursement of work-related expenses and the implementation of labour agreements.
Separate strike notices had also been filed by workers at catering and support contractor Food & Events Africa, as well as employees in Mali’s mining regulator and other government mining agencies.
Barrick and Mali resolved a long-running dispute over Loulo-Gounkoto in November last year after two years of negotiations.
The dispute had led Barrick to suspend operations in January 2025 after Malian authorities detained company employees and issued an arrest warrant for former CEO Mark Bristow over alleged financial crimes.
Mali has tightened state control over its mining sector under a 2023 mining code aimed at increasing government revenue from the industry.
If you want, I can also give you three short MiningMX-style headline options.
