(Ecofin Agency) - Last Saturday, the Minister of Mines of Mali said the country scaled down its forecasts for gold output for 2016, from 52.85t to 47.37t.

The West African nation previously based its projections on production’s restart, which was to begin in May 2016, at the Kodieran mine which is operated by Wassoul’Or. However, production at the mine has so far not restarted. 

Nevertheless, if able to produce 47.37t of gold by the end of the year, the nation will still record an improvement compared to the previous year, when it produced 46.5t.

Also, in March this year, the country updated gold reserves estimates raising them a third, to 800t, enough to sustain current production levels for the 15 coming years.

In Africa, Mali is the third largest gold producer behind South Africa and Ghana.

Louis-Nino Kansoun