On 31 July 2014, the government of Mali announced that approximately 30 % of all mining permits—spanning a surface area of more than 5,000 square miles—had been cancelled in order to “clean up the sector.” Permits revocations affect not only Malian nationals, but also foreign mining companies.

These revocations are the consequence of a new government policy to expel mining companies whose activity the Ministry of Mines considers to be contrary to “the country’s interest.” Following the election of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in September 2013, the Mines Ministry launched an “inventory” of mining concessions even though the country’s Mining Code did not expressly provide for that possibility. Although the current revocation only affects research and exploration licenses “for now”, the government could extend the revocations to licenses for mines already in production. These mines have indeed undergone the same audit as the projects that the Ministry of Mines forced to shut down after revoking their exploration licenses. This perspective would be particularly alarming for the mining sector.