More than a decade later, a different military regime has issued a warrant for Bristow’s arrest, as a months-long dispute over how to divide the economic benefits from the nation’s biggest mine comes to a head.
It’s a prize worth fighting for: not only is Mali the continent’s second-largest gold producer, but Barrick’s Loulo-Gounkoto is a low-cost mine producing more than half a million ounces a year, putting it in a select group of so-called tier one assets.
In Mali and beyond, Bristow established a reputation for thriving in African jurisdictions considered overly risky by many rivals. He piloted small planes taking investors to the mines he built from scratch, and by training local workers and avoiding expatriates, Bristow made his operations resilient to political turmoil. And crucially, he delivered the royalties and taxes that governments expected.
In Africa, Bristow piloted small planes taking…
