Hilaire Diarra, from Barrick Gold to Koulouba: a strategic turning point for Mali?
In its previous issue, Point Focus devoted a profile to Hilaire Bébian Diarra, a Malian engineer who has become a respected figure in the West African gold industry. A former Randgold scholar and later Managing Director of Barrick Gold’s Tongon mine in Côte d’Ivoire, he already embodied that delicate transition between technical expertise and strategic governance.
More recently, Hilaire Diarra has been appointed Special Adviser to the President of Mali’s Transition, General of the Army Assimi Goïta—a decision that has sent ripples through the West African mining sector. The appointment comes at a time when Bamako is locked in a standoff with Barrick Gold, already weakened by the provisional administration of the Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex and by its announcement of the sale of the Tongon gold mine.
Beyond the political signal, however, it is Diarra’s personal profile that could prove decisive. In our pages, he has consistently defended a vision centred on sustainability, community anchoring and the development of human capital as the foundation of sovereignty. These values now resonate anew within the sphere of state governance.
A milestone in building national expertise
His presence at the Koulouba Palace provides the authorities with a technical and relational asset, capable of deciphering the internal practices of multinationals, defending a sovereign line and carrying weight in negotiations.
Gold, which accounts for nearly 75% of the country’s exports, remains a vital stake: mastering its governance also means rebalancing the balance of power between the State and foreign investors.
By appointing Diarra, Bamako is not merely making a political move. It is laying a marker in the construction of national expertise capable, in the long term, of carrying an endogenous vision for the management of natural resources.
Time will tell whether this shift marks a lasting step towards the sovereign affirmation of Mali’s mining sector.
By I.Z.
