Given that the Mali Government has just this month created a new...

Given that the Mali Government has just this month created a new state-owned mining company [SOREM SA], I wonder who their preferred alternate buyer of Morila is? [The bookies would close the betting...]

Hence all this argy-bargy about getting FFX to pay for the liabilities - they are simply getting the price down for Sorem to start gold-mining. It looks increasingly like a negotiation rather than a fact-finding exercise. The Government wants a win for their new mining regimen - and that includes reducing the 'cost' relating to existing and future liabilities.

All FFX assets are held outside Mali - and will be difficult for the Mali Government to seize or put a lien on. So they need to put pressure on LLL to leverage the FFX Board. T

However threatening the Goulamina Project is a nuclear bomb for them... Sure, they can threaten to delay it or add more levies but that shoots themselves in the foot for hundreds of millions of [near-term] dollars of revenue and royalties and taxes for Mali - and pisses off Ganfeng and presumably the Chinese Government... It is an increasingly dangerous message to give to all new investment on the back of hiking the free carry in [new] projects.

LLL needs/needed to completely distance itself from FFX ASAP - get rid of the obvious links [old FFX Country Manager; any current shared employees [Finance/Admin/etc]; and probably BB should fall on his sword for the good of LLL] - regardless of cost/inconvenience/loss of experience/etc - indeed this should have been done once Morila's problems started 14 months ago.

Looks like the FFX Board have had their heads in the sand or been playing chicken in the face of the obvious wind-change in sentiment in Mali. Don't see that FFX has too many options now - it's all about holding tough and offering as little extra as possible - before selling it to Sorem.