(Bloomberg) -- Mali has released three Resolute Mining Ltd. executives after the African nation detained them in a tax dispute, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a judicial source and a local gold mine official.
The three executives, including Chief Executive Officer Terry Holohan, were freed from detention on Wednesday after Resolute struck a $160 million deal with the government, according to the report. The release came after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two parties, it added, citing the judicial source.
Resolute will make an announcement when there is an update to make and will not comment on speculation, a spokesperson for the company said Thursday.
Shares climbed as much as 4.7% in Sydney on Thursday before paring gains.
On Monday, Resolute said it had paid the Mali government an initial settlement of $80 million and would disburse the balance from “existing liquidity sources” in the coming months. Holohan and his two colleagues had been held for more than a week after he traveled to the country for meetings with the nation’s tax and mining authorities.
Mali’s position was that Resolute – which operates the Syama gold mine – should pay the state 100 billion CFA francs ($161 million) to settle a dispute mainly concerning alleged back taxes following a sector-wide audit, people familiar with the matter said last week.
Mali has been under military rule since 2020, when interim leader Colonel Assimi Goita ousted the West African nation’s elected president, citing the previous regime’s failure to repel the Islamist insurgents. Since then, mercenaries from the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group have been deployed to the country, while European forces and a United Nations peacekeeping mission were forced to withdraw.
(Adds share price move in fourth paragraph, details about government in final)
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.