Gold production dominates Mali's resources sector, behind only South Africa and Ghana, and news of the insurrection saw big sell-offs of exposed companies on the Australian Securities Exchange, on a day the ASX ended up.

 

Taking the biggest hit was Resolute Mining, with its shares down 18% in late trade, with Graphex Mining  and Oklo Resources down 12%, and Mali Lithium off 9.7%. 

 

In January, Resolute announced it was selling its Ravenswood gold project in Queensland to put all its eggs in the Africa basket. It has the 300,000 ounce per annum Syama operation in Mali, about 300km southeast of Bamako, and also runs the Mako operation in Senegal.

 

Resolute is also a big shareholder in Oklo, with the company recently spending around A$4 million to increase its stake to around 10%.

 

Graphex, to be renamed Marvel Gold, recently acquired the Tabakorole project in Mali where there is a historical resource of nearly 600,000oz and it has been working to upgrade JORC 2012 status. 

 

Indiana Resources, which started been prospecting for the yellow metal in Mali before COVID-19 restrictions, saw a small dip, although it recently has focused on South Australia's Gawler Craton.

 

Mali Lithium, which has legacy gold interests in southern Mali, and was planning to release a long-delayed definitive feasibility study for its Goulamina project next month, recently delivered an 48% increase resource of 64.6 million tonnes grading 1.49% lithium oxide for 960,000t. 

 

Even companies working in neighbouring nations, took hits. Senegal-focused Chesser Resources was off 5%, and Cote d'Ivoire explorer Tietto Minerals fell 4%.

 

The coup unfolded quickly overnight (Australian time).

 

Soldiers reportedly surrounded the president's house and placed him, and top officials, under arrest in the capital, Bamako, where they reportedly control the streets

 

Keita, who has faced repeated calls to stand down in recent months, told the nation that he would stand down three years before his end of his final term to avoid bloodshed.

 

He was democratically elected in 2013 with 77% of the votes, following an earlier coup d'etat in 2012, and was re-elected in 2018, but has faced months of regular demonstrations calling for his departure amid an Islamic insurgency, the COVID-19 crisis and concerns over recent election results, claims of government incompetence and endemic corruption and a deteriorating economy.

 

Jihadists, with ties to Al Qaeda and Islamic State, have controlled vast areas of the north,

including the ancient city of Timbuktu, and have been terrorising villages, with incursions into Burkina Faso and Niger. 

 

More than 10,000 West Africans have died and over a million have fled their homes.

 

Neighbouring states have closed their borders and the 15-member Economic Community of West African States has suspended financial flows with nation, with sanctions being considered among ECOWAS member states. 

 

Mali shares land borders with Algeria, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

 

The United Nations expressed concerns the fall of the Keita government could further destabilise Mali and West Africa's entire Sahel region, with secretary-general Antonio Guterres calling for the immediate release of the President and the restoration of constitutional order and rule of law.

 

The African Union has also thrown its support behind Keita and his ousted prime minister Boubou Cisse. 

 

Mali was once praised as a model democracy and economy in Africa, but since the insurgency in the north, the UN has deployed 15,600 peacekeepers to the nation, one of the biggest UN deployments in the world.