National revenues of Malian gold mining companies rose 13% year-on-year to 457.5 billion CFA francs ($850 million) in 2020, driven by rising global metal prices during the epidemic, according to government data on Friday.
Mining is the backbone of the country's economy, especially gold, which accounted for nearly 10 per cent of (GDP) last year.
Last August, buying "safe haven" metals during the pandemic pushed the price of spot gold to an all-time high of more than $2000 an ounce.
Mamadou Sidibe, head of planning and statistics in Mali, noted that the increase in income was due to a slight increase in production, but most importantly the increase in the price of gold.
Mali produced 71.2 tons of gold in 2020, compared with 71.1 tons the previous year.
Thirteen industrial gold mining companies operate in Mali, including Barrick Gold Corp, Resolute Mining Ltd, B2GOLD, AngloGold Ashanti Ltd and Endeavor Mining Corp.
There are also about 350 artisanal gold mining sites in the country.
