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International Arbitration Forum

Société des Mines de Loulo S.A. and Société des Mines de Gounkoto S.A. v. Republic of Mali

Case summary

At a glance

Parties
Société des Mines de Loulo S.A. and Société des Mines de Gounkoto S.A. (operating entities of Barrick Gold Corporation) v. Republic of Mali
Case no.
ICSID Case No. ARB/25/2
Forum and rules
ICSID arbitration
Treaty
Somilo and Gounkoto Mining Conventions with the State of Mali (contract arbitration clauses)
Sector
Gold mining
Outcome
No decision is published. The documents are three Barrick press releases about the request for arbitration and the events that followed it.

The dispute

Société des Mines de Loulo SA and Société des Mines de Gounkoto SA are Barrick Gold Corporation's operating entities in Mali. They run the Loulo-Gounkoto gold mining complex. Each company has a Mining Convention with the State of Mali, and the companies brought ICSID arbitration under the dispute clauses of those conventions over "matters of disagreement" about the complex. Barrick's press releases say that Mali stopped the companies from shipping gold. Mali then obtained an interim attachment order over the gold stock on site and carried it out by moving the gold to a custodial bank. Several Malian employees of Barrick were also detained, on charges Barrick calls unfounded. The published documents do not set out the legal claims in detail or Mali's position.

Key holdings

  1. No decision of the tribunal is among the published documents. Barrick's press releases say the request for arbitration was made under the Somilo and Gounkoto Mining Conventions. Barrick also says the interim attachment order breaches the dispute resolution mechanisms the parties agreed. Press releases of 18 December 2024 and 6 January 2025

Procedural history

  1. 18 December 2024Barrick confirms that Loulo and Gounkoto have submitted a request for arbitration to ICSID under their Mining Conventions with Mali.
  2. 6 January 2025Barrick reports that it is still restricted from shipping gold and that an interim attachment order has been issued against the gold stock on site. It warns that it will suspend operations if the issue is not resolved within a week.
  3. 14 January 2025Barrick reports that the attachment order has been carried out by moving the gold stock to a custodial bank, and that it has begun a temporary suspension of operations at Loulo-Gounkoto.

Keywords

Summary generated with AI from the published documents — refer to the award for the authoritative text.

Case ID
ICSID Case No. ARB/25/2
Country
Section