Indigenous mining complicates Brazil’s fight against illegal gold
The Munduruku territory, a reservation the size of Switzerland on the Tapajos river, a major Amazon tributary, has become a hot spot for illegal mining.
B2Gold (TSX: BTO, NYSE-A: BTG, NSX: B2G) says that its Fekola mine complex in Mali will continue to operate at full capacity despite an ongoing strike, and there will be no impact on the annual production guidance.
According to the Vancouver-based miner, a portion of workers at Fekola has gone on strike primarily as a response to to the action B2Gold took against some Fekola employees that previously engaged in what it calls “illegal activities detrimental to productivity” at the mine. These include “go slow” actions by the mining employees and an illegal sit in at the Fekola management office in August 2024.
Under the notice served to the company by the Fekola workers’ union last week, the strike is expected to last seven days, ending on Dec. 5.
B2Gold said on Monday it “remains ready and willing” to participate in meetings with the Fekola workers union to reach a resolution, and will “continue to adhere to legal procedures, respecting the rights of all its employees, inviting the union to engage in a constructive dialogue, and providing the authorities with all requested information.”
Meanwhile, during this seven-day strike period, the company will continue to operate critical infrastructure and the mill on a reduced roster, maintaining the expected gold production profile during the period.
The Fekolo mine represents one of B2Gold’s three main producing assets, accounting for over half of last year’s gold production at approximately 590,000 oz. This year, it is still expected to meet its guidance at somewhere between 420,000-450,000 oz. despite the labour action.
Also in Monday’s press release, B2Gold said it is making progress with the State of Mali, which owns 20% of the Fekola mine, on their respective deliverables and implementation of the necessary steps under the memorandum of agreement signed in September 2024. Among those is the issuance of the necessary permits to commence exploration at the Fekola Regional project.
Upon issuance of the permit for Fekola Regional, located 25 km north of the mine, operations will begin with initial gold production expected in early 2025. This would potentially generate approximately 80,000-100,000 oz. of additional gold production on an annualized basis through the trucking of open pit ore to the Fekola mill.
The memorandum with Mali’s new regime also laid out terms for the expedited approval of the exploitation phase for the Fekola underground project, where the company expects to begin production after Fekola Regional in mid-2025.
B2Gold’s stock was down by 4.9% as of 11:25 a.m. in Toronto following the strike announcement. The company is trading at C$3.88 a share, with a market capitalization of approximately C$5 billion ($3.5 billion).
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