By David Lewis and Jessica Donati

(Reuters) – Mali’s military-led authorities have arrested four employees of Canadian miner Barrick Gold, two sources said on Friday. All four are senior Malian employees, one of the sources said.

Barrick is the world’s second-largest gold miner and one of Mali’s top gold producers, but like other international miners it has been under growing pressure in the West African country since a junta seized power in 2020.

A government official based in the region and speaking on condition of anonymity said four Barrick employees had been arrested for alleged financial crimes.

Barrick declined to comment. The Malian authorities could not immediately be reached for comment.

A second source, who works in the Malian mining sector, said the four people were arrested on Wednesday and were senior Malian employees at Barrick.

Mali is one of Africa’s biggest gold producers and the junta has sought to channel a greater share of gold revenue to state coffers including via a new mining code that allows the government to increase its ownership of gold concessions.

Its shake-up of the sector is part of a wider policy shift that has seen the authorities cut off long-standing ties with Western allies such as France and seek closer diplomatic, security, and commercial relations with Russia.

Last year, Mali signed an agreement with Russia to build a gold refinery in the capital Bamako and reached a deal with Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom to explore for minerals and produce nuclear energy.

(Reporting by David Lewis in Nairobi and Jessica Donati in Dakar; Additional reporting by Felix Njini and Fadimata Kontao; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)