Resolute Mining CEO Terry Holohan takes leave after Mali ordeal as gold miner reveals terms of freedom deal

A senior mining executive held captive by Mali’s ruling militia for almost two weeks over a nearly $250 million tax demand on his company will take leave to spend time with his family. Resolute Mining chief executive Terry Holohan, along with two others from the Perth-based African gold miner, were detained in the capital Bamako on November 8 while visiting the country for talks with mining and tax authorities. They were freed on November 21 after the company agreed to pay about $247m to the junta. Resolute was just the latest in a string of miners to be caught up in the impoverished West African nation’s attempts to squeeze more money from foreign players by pressuring them to renegotiate agreements under threat of losing their operating licences. The company on Friday said Mr Holohan, a British national, would take a leave of absence from now until the end of January “to spend time with his family”. Chief financial officer Chris Eger will stand in as acting CEO. Group financial controller Dave Jackson will temporarily step into Mr Eger’s role. “On behalf of the entire company I would like to wish Terry well as he takes a break to be with his family,” Resolute chair Andrew Wray said. “Chris and Terry are an excellent team overseeing the growth of the business. Given the recent challenges in Mali and his knowledge of the business, Chris is the natural person to lead the company as acting CEO.” The dual-listed precious metals miner operates the Syama gold operation in Mali and had previously negotiated a so-called convention for the site to run until 2029. Resolute has already made two payments to the militia to settle the tax debt and on Friday said the final instalment of $US30m ($47m) from existing cash reserves would be paid before the end of the year. But it warned investors it would now be hit with a bigger tax bill as it revealed the full extent of the terms it agreed with the junta to secure the detained trio’s freedom. Syama from next year will fall under the 2023 Mining Code, which will lift the project’s corporate tax rate from 25 per cent to 30 per cent. The deal also removes a fuel duty exemption. Royalties to the government will be based on a sliding scale, with a gold price exceeding $2500/oz to attract a rate of 10.5 per cent. The government of Mali will also hold a 20 per cent preference share interest in Syama. The remaining 80 per cent will continue to be held by Resolute’s subsidiary as an ordinary share interest. Shares in the miner were down 4 per cent to 42¢ as investors mulled the repercussions of the update. They have failed to recover from a more than 30 per cent slump after news broke of its workers’ detention on November 10.