By Divya Rajagopal and Portia Crowe

TORONTO/DAKAR (Reuters) -Blasting is scheduled to begin at Barrick Mining’s Loulo underground gold mine in Mali on October 15, four months after a court-appointed provisional administration took control of the site, two sources told Reuters.

Under the provisional administration, operations at the Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex have so far been limited to transporting existing ore stocks to its plant and processing them there.

The provisional administrators had planned to resume active mining in September, one of the sources said, but pushed back the start date as they negotiated with subcontractors, some of whom had not been paid since Barrick suspended operations in January.

UNPAID BILLS SETTLED, PIT MINE ACTIVITIES STILL SUSPENDED

Blasting, which ent

See Full Page