By Bate Felix
Business Day (South Africa)
Mali has cancelled 130 mining permits, about 30% of existing permits in the gold-producing West African nation, in a drive to clean up the sector, a mines ministry official said on Thursday.
The new government said in September that it would carry out a complete inventory of existing mining contracts, titles and licences and was ready to renegotiate permits that were not in the country’s interest.
The cancelled licences include a range of permits covering a surface area of about 13,000 square kilometres, but do not involve mines already in production.