Canada鈥檚 B2Gold (TSX: BTO) (NYSE: BTG) remains optimistic about solving an impasse with the government of Mali, which refused in March to renew the miner鈥檚 permit for its Menankoto exploration project, located 20 km north of its flagship Fekola gold mine.
Since beginning exploration activities in聽Mali聽in 2014, B2Gold had enjoyed a 鈥減ositive and mutually beneficial relationship鈥� with the country鈥檚 government, according to chief executive Clive Johnson.
Even after聽last year鈥檚 military coup聽in the West African nation, the Vancouver-based company decided to boost output at its Fekola mine and examine other opportunities both in the country and across the region.
B2Gold has repeatedly said Mali is still 鈥渁 great place to mine gold鈥�, but its Malian subsidiary, Menankoto SARL launched international arbitration proceedings against the country in June, alleging breach of contract.
Discussing this week, Johnson said the company remained committed to advancing its ongoing talks with the Malian government, adding he was confident the permit renewal dispute would be resolved 鈥渙ver the course of the next few months..
The executive highlighted the recently received permit for the Cardinal discovery, located just 500 meters from Fekola. Johnson said B2Gold is already mining there, which will add to overall production.
Two-fold catalyst
鈥淢enankoto has a separate license so we can start tracking from there, but we鈥檇 like to be drilling both of them,鈥� Johnson said in an earnings call on Wednesday.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Brian Quast said resolving the Menankoto issue could be a two-fold catalyst for B2Gold.
鈥淲e would expect signs of constructive developments between B2Gold and the Malian government to be positive for shares 鈥� reducing headline risk for Fekola and potentially unlocking the full scope of the prospective Anaconda area,鈥� he wrote in a note to investors.
In 2020, B2Gold鈥檚 Fekola mine produced 622,518 ounces of gold, or about 27% of Mali鈥檚 industrial gold production, generating close to $300 million in revenues for the country.
The company has earmarked $66 million for exploration in 2022, excluding Gramalote, which is its 50:50 joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti in Colombia.聽 B2Gold also said it would continue to divest non-core projects, having agreed in October to聽sell its Kiaka project in Burkina Faso to West African Resources聽for $100 million.