Location Sanso Country Mali Financial year 2009 Address Mali Opened 2000 | Region Sikasso Production 342,000 Closed 2013 (expected) Phone +223 74 25 36 96 | |
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Companies AngloGold Ashanti (40%), Randgold Resources (40%) | ||
The Morila Gold Mine is an open-pit gold mine situated 180 km south of Bamako, near the community of Sanso, in the Sikasso Region of Mali. The operation is jointly owned by AngloGold Ashanti and Randgold Resources, who each have an effective holding of 40% through jointly-owned Morila Limited, while the Government of Mali owns the remaining 20%.
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Apart from Morila, AngloGold Ashanti's also ownes part of the Sadiola and the Yatela Mine in Mali. The production of its mines in Mali contributed 8% to the company's overall production in 2008.
The mine was operated by AngloGold Ashanti, but operations were taken over by Randgold in 2008.
History
The mine opened in October 2000.
Mining at Morila, carried out in a single open pit, was completed in April 2009. The treatment of low-grade stockpiles, however, is expected to continue until 2013. Consequently, with the mining having ceased, the number of employees at Morila has fallen from 1,700 in 2008 to 1,053 in 2009.
Randgold, the operator of the mine, has commenced a study to investigate the viability of a large agricultural business in the area, which could use some of the existing infrastructure of the mine after its closure and provide employment for the mining staff.
The mine has been blamed for dividing the people in local communities in the region into those that have found well-paying jobs in the mine and prospered, while those that have not remain poor. A strike at the mine in 2004 was aimed at countering this issue, resulting in a promise by the mine owners to invest into the local communities after the mine closure.
Production
Production figures of the recent past were: