Ann: Government of Mali - Update, page-136

@john_utah - Interesting observations (sorry that reply link not working but this post https://hotcopper.com.au/threads/ann-government-of-mali-update.7541545/page-3#post-69526639).

I've been collecting snippets of African media for a while. Definitely not saying they're all true, but interesting to get as much source material as possible given what's going on. Sharing for interest.

This collection below is primarily about what people have been saying over the last couple of years about Minister Traoré that Lowe met with.

It gets a bit Jack Ryan, and I think it needs liberal helpings of salt as you read through, and I've copied and pasted snippets so it goes a bit all over the place, but here it is.

Traoré (naturally as Minister) was there to kick off the new Goulamina mine.


Traoré seemed to be popular: he was working on the new Mining Code, looking to increase Mali share in projects, and had setup a national mining company (Sorem SA) to advance local interests.



Traoré's brother-in-law is the Defence Minister Sadio Camara. Traoré and Camara also seem to have played key roles in Wagner's role in Mali. Camara has been sanctioned by the US over the Wagner role.





Wagner chief Prigozhin (with a morbidly ironic quote perhaps given recent news) seems to have been interested in seeing Wagner establish mining presence in Mali to fund its work.



To that end they got some geologists on board to work on identifying project opportunities.


It seems Traoré took one of these geologists, Laktionov, on a bit of a tour of Mali to assist with this research.




It seems some early efforts didn't necessarily boom, but it didn't deter the plan.



Wagner seems to have persisted with the concept, looking perhaps for creative options to fund their efforts in Mali





It sounds like Wagner's geologist Laktionov was one of the advocates for Mali looking to nationalise mining, and was interested in some particular tenements



This might simply have been constructive advice to help Mali fund Wagner's efforts through royalties.




And it seems despite Wagner's eagerness, Mali is nonetheless keeping Wagner at a little distance



Although Wagner seems to have been (I presume after legally purchasing?) active in the gold space



And it seems Wagner have been supportive of some of the recent changes in the mining sector, in alignment it seems with Traoré's efforts to explore the opportunity for mining to help fund Wagner's work




Now recently Goïta reshuffled, removing Traoré as Mining Minster (well he resigned), in part due to issues with electricity.




A journalist, Seydoue Omare Traoré (presume not related but unclear - previously arrested for criticising the judiciary under a former regime) has made a different case, suggesting that Minister Traoré did his best. Some commenters speculate about potential rivalry between President Goïta and Defence Minister Camara (Traoré's brother in law).







I'm not sure why such a big deal was made about it - perhaps background PR to undermine him? - but before he was apparently forced to resign he was in Paris with reasonable sums of cash. It doesn't strike me as outrageous given he is a senior government official who is presumably doing alright financially and it seems possible that Mali banking internationally might be more complicated than we're used to, hence taking cash. Since his resignation there have been articles suggesting some have claimed Traoré may have had personal interests in some mining approvals, and that perhaps this contributed, together with the audit, to the decision to take away his power to grant licenses as part of that power being frozen. It feels unlikely to me on the face of it as I'd assume if there were any suspicions of impropriety they'd have been raised and dealt with openly, but I'll share what some commentators have said in African media for context on what might be mood or angles being run.







Other have raised the possibility of Traoré being a scapegoat.





Either way, it seems his influence has been significantly challenged leading up to and since his removal. Together with this the media and Mali social media commentators has suggested some, perhaps family-influenced, base for tension or at least jostling between Interim President Colonel Assimi Goïta, and Camara.







Continuing Traoré's work, the new Mining Code is now being explored. Neither FFX or LLL have made any clear announcement that they're affected or interested in the new code yet, but media elsewhere has suggested LLL has specifically been caught up in the new Mining Code. It sounds like other firms have been in active discussions with Mali as the Mining Code has been developed, and made representations to influence it. It seems a bit peculiar we haven't heard of LLL/FFX doing the same, but perhaps it has happened quietly. There's an article I'd like to read from Africa Intelligence that @Gwaihir posted an extract of: I've copy/pasted that extract (thank you!) as well as the snippet Google shows which mentions Traoré but clips out.