AU
Illegal miners are digging gold at a $4.8B Newmont site in Peru
A multi-billion-dollar gold project owned by the world’s biggest bullion producer has been invaded by illegal diggers in northern Peru, according to a top government official.
Newmont Corp.’s stalled Minas Conga project in the Cajamarca region “is being partially exploited by illegal mining,” Prime Minister Ernesto Alvarez told reporters Friday. Newmont didn’t immediately comment.
Denver-based Newmont is the latest global company to face informal miners as near record prices increase incentives for diggers in poor rural areas of the country. Southern Copper Corp., First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and MMG Ltd. have said illegal miners are operating on their concessions, delaying progress.
Development at the estimated $4.8 billion Conga project was halted shortly after receiving environmental permits in 2010 in the wake of farmer opposition that spiraled into violent protests. Newmont still holds the mineral rights.
“When legal mining that meets high standards is not developed, it cedes the space to illegal mining, which pollutes and uses violence,” said Alvarez, the top deputy to interim president Jose Jeri.
Peruvian authorities are grappling with how to deal with the surge in illegal mining. The government supported the extension of a controversial permit known as Reinfo that allows informal diggers to operate with loose requirements. Peru’s mining industry chamber SNMPE heavily opposes Reinfo.
“It was said about Conga that it shouldn’t happen because local communities preferred agriculture,” Alvarez said. “Now, the rivers that originate in the Conga area are being contaminated by the mercury used in illegal mining. It’s a macabre situation.”
(By Marcelo Rochabrun)
Mali returns possession of seized gold to Barrick
A Malian judge has ordered the return of possession of 3 metric tons of gold seized nearly a year ago from Barrick Mining’s Loulo-Gounkoto complex to the Canadian miner, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The gold, worth about $400 million, was seized by a military helicopter in January following a confiscation order from a Malian judge. It has remained at the BMS bank in Mali’s capital, Bamako, since then, according to both sources.
While the judge ordered possession of the gold to be returned to Barrick, the miner will be responsible for transporting the gold out of the bank vaults, they said.
The two sides reached an agreement last month to resolve their dispute over Barrick’s operations in the West African country after two years of negotiations. The disagreement, over the implementation of a new mining code introduced by the military-led government, led to Barrick suspending operations of its gold mining complex in January, and a Malian court-appointed provisional administrator taking control in June.
Barrick agreed to a settlement worth $430 million, one of the two sources and a third person said. The provisional administration is set to return control of the mining complex to Barrick next week, all three sources said.
A spokesperson for Barrick declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Mali’s mines ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Four Barrick employees who had been in prison since November 2024 were released last month as part of the agreement, while Barrick dropped its international arbitration case against Mali.
(By Portia Crowe and Divya Rajagopal; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
Mali clears domestic arrears after back payment from miners
Mali has ordered the payment of 312 billion CFA francs ($554 million) to local companies to clear arrears for services provided in 2023 and 2024, after state finances were bolstered in the wake of recovering 761 billion CFA francs from miners in the application of a new mining code.
The settlement will also include some invoices for this year, Minister of Economy and Finance Alousséni Sanou said on national television.
“This significant payment is the logical continuation of an operation that began in September 2024,” Sanou said. “It comes on the heels of the payment of an important amount of money received from mining companies in the country, in line with an operation for the application of the 2023 new mining code.”
Sanou said earlier this month that the country had recouped the 761 billion CFA francs in back payments as a result of asking miners to move to the new mining code.
The country upped the ante on international mining companies as it sought ways to fund a growing fight with Islamist insurgents after cutting military ties with the West, including the European Union.
(By Kamailoudini Tagba)
Indonesia to levy gold export duties from December 23
Indonesia will impose duties on exports of gold products from December 23, a regulation on the finance ministry’s website showed on Wednesday, a step that could earn revenue of $180 million next year for the southeast Asian nation.
Duties ranging from 7.5% to 12.5%, depending on the type of gold product, will kick in when the government-set reference price falls between $2,800 and $3,200 a troy ounce.
The duties will rise to between 10% and 15% once the reference price reaches $3,200 per troy ounce.
Minted bars will face the lowest duties, while the highest duties are set for dore, or semi-pure ingots, the website showed.
The reference price is to be set periodically by the trade ministry based on benchmark prices of gold, it added.
On Monday, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said the gold export tax could earn revenue of as much as 3 trillion rupiah ($180 million) in 2026.
($1=16,680.0000 rupiah)
(By Fransiska Nangoy, Bernadette Christina Munthe and Ananda Teresia; Editing by John Mair and Clarence Fernandez)
Chinese gold miner to buy 50% of St Barbara unit for $245M
Australia’s St Barbara said on Wednesday that Chinese gold producer Lingbao Gold Group will buy a 50% stake in its subsidiary St Barbara Mining for A$370 million ($245.5 million) in cash.
St Barbara Mining owns the Simberi Gold Company, which will hold an 80% stake in Simberi gold project in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The remaining 20% stake will be acquired by Kumul Minerals, the state nominee for PNG’s share of minerals projects in the country, for A$100 million.
Kumul’s investment comesas the PNG government seeks to expand national ownership of key resource projects.
Meanwhile, Australian gold producers have been enjoying rapid equity gains, boosted by surging gold prices, prompting companies to unlock value from quality assets both domestically and overseas.
“With Lingbao, we have a committed, experienced and a well-funded partner,” St Barbara CEO Andrew Strelein said, adding that Kumul’s participation in Simberi helps align the interests of key stakeholders.
“St Barbara is now fully funded for its expected share of the development costs of the Simberi gold project.”
The company aims to reach a final investment decision on the Simberi expansion project in the third quarter of fiscal 2026.
($1 = A$1.5072)
(By Nichiket Sunil; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Subhranshu Sahu)
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