- Mali Cancels Two Nguvu Mine-Linked Gold Permits After Niger Nationalises Samira Hill
Mali has cancelled two gold exploitation permits controlled by Nguvu Mining, the West African mining group founded and led by Ghanaian business executive Angela List, intensifying regulatory pressure on a portfolio that has already suffered the nationalisation of the Samira Hill mine in neighbouring Niger.
Documents reviewed by NorvanReports show that Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maïga revoked the permits held by Ségala Mining Corporation, known as SEMICO, and Société d’Exploitation des Mines de Kofi, or Kofi SA, through decrees signed on September 24, 2026.
The National Directorate of Geology and Mines formally notified the companies on October 1. The letters, signed by National Director Issa Coulibaly, invoked Article 154(c) of Mali’s 2023 Mining Code and ordered closure operations, including rehabilitation of the sites.
Nguvu identifies both companies as components of its Ségala mining operation, acquired from Endeavour Mining in 2018. Its corporate disclosures say Nguvu holds 80 per cent of the operation, while the Republic of Mali owns the remaining 20 per cent.
Ms List is Nguvu’s founder and chief executive. She is also First Vice-President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, following her election in June 2026. Her Chamber position makes the development particularly relevant to Ghana’s mining industry, where she participates in the leadership of the principal association representing mining companies.
SEMICO’s permit covered 113 square kilometres in the Ségala area of Kéniéba. It was granted in December 1997 to Consolidated Mining Corporation West Africa for gold, silver, associated substances and platinum-group metals before being transferred to SEMICO in January 2000. notification d’annulation de permis d’exploitation d’or semico.pdf
The Kofi permit covered 53.48 square kilometres at Kofi-Nord. It was awarded to Nevsun Mali Exploration Limited in June 2014 and transferred to Kofi SA in December 2015. The two cancelled concessions therefore cover 166.48 square kilometres.
Nguvu’s published description identifies Fougala as an open-pit operation and Tabakoto and Ségala as underground mines under the SEMICO permit. Baboto and Bétéa are described as open-pit operations attached to the Kofi permit. The decrees consequently affect a connected mining complex rather than unrelated concessions.
The permits have been removed from Mali’s mining cadastre, while the areas have been released from all rights previously conferred on the companies. This legally clears the concessions and gives the state room to reserve, restructure or reallocate them.
Cancellation does not erase liabilities accumulated during operations. SEMICO and Kofi SA remain responsible for outstanding environmental, social, fiscal and technical obligations. Both companies also retain civil liability for damage or accidents caused by former installations for five years.
They must hand over geological and mining information generated from the sites to the Malian state without compensation. Such records may include drilling data, resource models, production information and technical studies needed to evaluate the remaining economic potential.
Environmental risks, however, can outlast the cancelled mining titles.
The decrees do not disclose estimated closure costs, secured rehabilitation funds, implementation deadlines or sanctions for non-compliance. Mali must therefore demonstrate that the obligations will be financed, independently monitored and implemented rather than allowed to remain statements on paper.
The action also draws attention to Nguvu’s experience in Niger. Nguvu’s website lists the Samira Hill Gold Mine among its operations, stating that it acquired the asset in 2019 and held an 80 per cent interest, with Niger’s state-owned SOPAMIN controlling 20 per cent.
In August 2025, Niger nationalised Société des Mines du Liptako, the company operating Samira Hill, the country’s only industrial gold mine. Niger said the majority investor, identified officially as McKinel Resources Limited, had committed serious contractual breaches and left the company in an alarming economic condition.
The Nigerien government cited failure to implement agreed investment plans, unpaid taxes and salaries, mounting debt, worker dismissals, supply disruptions and declining production. It presented nationalisation as necessary to save a strategic national asset and restore control to the Nigerien people.
Nguvu’s own description of Samira Hill and reporting linking Ms List to the mine establish a material connection between the nationalised Nigerien asset and the group whose Malian permits have now been cancelled. The regional pattern therefore merits scrutiny.
It would, however, be inaccurate to state as fact that Mali cancelled the Ségala and Kofi permits for the same reasons cited by Niger. The Malian decrees do not provide a reason for cancellation, and NorvanReports has not seen an official finding alleging unpaid taxes, salaries, investment failures or mismanagement at the two Malian operations.
That distinction is essential. The verified facts are that Niger nationalised Samira Hill after publishing specific allegations, while Mali subsequently cancelled two Nguvu-controlled exploitation permits without stating its grounds in the decrees reviewed. Similar outcomes do not automatically establish identical misconduct.
Nguvu and Ms List should therefore be given an opportunity to explain whether the Mali decisions are being challenged, whether operations had already ceased, how closure will be financed and whether the group disputes the Nigerien allegations surrounding Samira Hill.
The Ghana Chamber of Mines may also face questions about whether developments affecting its First Vice-President’s regional assets have any bearing on governance expectations attached to its leadership. Holding an industry office does not make the Chamber responsible for a member’s external operations, but transparency is important where leadership and corporate interests intersect.
For Mali, asserting sovereignty must be accompanied by regulatory clarity. Licence cancellation is among the strongest powers available to a mining state. Investors will want to understand whether the decisions arose from inactivity, reserve depletion, non-compliance, commercial failure or a broader restructuring policy.
For Nguvu, the emerging challenge is larger than losing access to 166.48 square kilometres. With Samira Hill nationalised and the Ségala and Kofi permits cancelled, the group must reassure governments, workers, communities, financiers and industry partners about its operational and financial capacity.
The documents establish an unambiguous legal outcome: Mali has withdrawn the permits, reclaimed the land and preserved the companies’ liabilities. The unanswered question is why. Until Bamako and Nguvu provide fuller explanations, the intersection between the Mali cancellations and the earlier Niger takeover will remain a legitimate subject for scrutiny, but not a basis for unsupported conclusions.
