Ann: MoU Signed with Mali Gov & Sale of Entire Project to Ganfeng, page-582

On that note (Barrick) it will be interesting to see how the rest of the industry’s reaction plays out to what has happened here, especially after the hosing down “expropriation” got during recent investor calls by other miners operating in the region. If this wasn’t expropriation by stonewall and proxy, I don’t know what is.

My inclination is they’ll sympathise privately with Hay, but indirectly infer in public forums if asked that this was unsurprisingly FFX-specific, and a bit of bad luck contained solely to Leo with no wider precedent for others. If that proves correct then for Mali, we’ve been the whipping boy. But if it’s a sign of more of what’s to come then they’ll want to have their legal teams scrambling all over their structural setups now, and trying to front foot shareholders on “orderly transitions” to new codes or voluntary agreements with Govt etc. I doubt we’ll see ANY of them enter into partnerships with companies from Malian junta-aligned nations tho.