Mali’s military junta is opening a gold-processing plant jointly with the Russian company "Yadran". The project could serve as a kind of reward for Russian mercenaries for helping to keep the regime in power and suppress the opposition.
This is reported by Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service.
It is known that Mali will receive a controlling stake of 62% of the company’s authorised capital.
As the Foreign Intelligence Service notes, on 28 May 2025 the country’s Council of Ministers approved a communiqué on the establishment of the enterprise. This happened on the eve of the reformatting of the Wagner private military company into the Russian Defence Ministry’s “African Corps” and the legalisation of its presence in the country.
During the same period, the military junta led by Assimi Goïta issued a decree on the complete dissolution of political parties and organisations, and in the summer cancelled elections. As a result, power in the country was effectively usurped, and Goïta was appointed president until 2030.
Political confrontation in Mali escalated into an armed conflict with the junta, which is backed by Russia’s “African Corps”.
In spring 2026, opposition forces attacked supporters of Assimi Goïta. Government troops, together with Russian mercenaries, were forced to abandon a number of positions in the north of the country. In the summer, pro-government forces managed to stabilise the situation.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Borisenko said: “Thanks to the actions of the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa), as well as servicemen of Russia’s ‘African Corps’, it (the situation in the country, – ed.) is under control, and we expect it to continue to stabilise.”
The Foreign Intelligence Service believes that profits from the gold-processing plant could serve as payment to the “African Corps” for military support. At the same time, according to the intelligence assessment, Russian structures will gain influence over an important source of Mali’s foreign trade revenues.
According to the Foreign Intelligence Service, in recent years Mali has ranked 14th in the world for official gold production and is among the top three on the African continent. The projected capacity of the new enterprise is expected to be up to 200 tonnes of metal per year.
The intelligence service also recalled allegations of brutal actions by Russian military personnel against the local population.
According to the international human rights organisation Human Rights Watch, such incidents this year included the killing of nine local residents, including four children, in the village of Bombori on 10 July, as well as an air strike on the village of Kornia on 15 June, in which eight civilians were killed, including three children.
The Malian junta says the new plant is intended to bring order to the activities of local artisanal miners who, by various estimates, illegally extract up to 60 tonnes of gold a year. The Foreign Intelligence Service suggests that Russian military personnel will be involved in this process.
The intelligence report also states that Russia is selling off its gold reserves to cover the budget deficit. In the first eight months of 2026, Russia’s gold reserves fell by 43.5 tonnes. Due to international sanctions, Russia is having difficulty selling gold produced domestically and is seeking new sources of extraction and revenue to finance the war against Ukraine.