The Morila gold mine in Mali will start its transition to a stockpile retreatment operation towards the middle of next year and its stakeholders must work together to ensure that the maximum value is extracted from the remaining asset while it is brought to a close in an orderly and responsible manner, says Randgold Resources chief executive Mark Bristow.  Randgold manages and has a 40% stake in the mine, which it discovered and developed.Speaking at a media day at the mine, Bristow said the transitional process should be a disciplined one designed to leave something of value in the form of a sustainable regional agribusiness in the place of Morila. The business could use some of the mine’s facilities and infrastructure and employ some of its former workers.

Since it went into production in October 2000, Morila has produced some 5 Moz of gold and contributed FCFA 246 billion (US$492 million) to the Malian economy in dividends, royalties and taxes.

Bristow: “A mine like this is an enormous economic engine which pumps out opportunity and prosperity in a wide circle around it.  Morila has created employment for thousands of Malians, developed skills and built capacity, provided a market for the goods and services of many local companies, expanded the country’s infrastructure and uplifted the quality of life of the communities around it.

“There’s a saying in English that one should not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.  That’s particularly true of the mining industry, which needs long-term thinking and investment to thrive. If you pillage the assets or choke promising developments with extortionary taxes, you deny them the opportunity to realise their full value and, even more important, to achieve what Morila has done, to provide the catalyst as well as the multiplier effect for a general and lasting economic improvement.”