Reshaping mining strategies

Mali forms Sopamim to manage state mining stakes; Botswana explores critical minerals as global diamond demand weakens.

Mali announced it will create a fully state-owned company, Sopamim, to manage government equity stakes in mining operations. The move follows a 2023 mining code revision that raised state and local ownership in mines to at least 35 percent, boosting gold revenues by more than 50 percent in 2024. Bamako has also appointed a former Barrick executive to advise the presidency on mining oversight. In southern Africa, Botswana plans to expand exploration beyond diamonds, which account for about a third of government revenue. With global diamond demand weakening, authorities have launched a new state-owned exploration company to target critical minerals and survey vast unexplored areas. The shift reflects mounting fiscal pressure as declining diamond sales widen the budget deficit.

Mali’s overhaul of its mining framework since 2023 is best understood as a fiscal survival strategy wrapped in resource nationalism. After the 2021 and 2023 coups, the junta moved quickly to revise the mining code when gold prices were above $2,000 per ounce. The objective was clear: to capture a larger share of mining rents to offset shrinking Western aid flows and rising military expenditure.