Ground-breaking at the plant site is scheduled for next month, and the accommodations camp should be finished in November.

Armed attacks by Islamist militants and other groups are common across vast swathes of Mali and its neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger.

Decision comes after an unnamed company tried buying the miner's South African unit, which holds the mineral rights for the diamond project.

The contract, signed in 2008, promised a $3.2 billion investment by China in a copper/cobalt mine and another $3 billion worth of infrastructure projects.

About 60% of the country’s $302 billion economy is reliant on energy produced from coal.

Mining companies have been pushing to develop their own power plants because of persistent power cuts imposed by state power utility Eskom.

Roscan's primary asset is the Kandiolé project, located east of B2Gold’s Fekola mine in West Mali.