Guinea detains former mining ministers; allows AngloGold Ashanti to reopen mine

Guinea’s military junta chief Captain Moussa Dadis Camara is allowing AngloGold Ashanti (AU-N, AGD-L) to reopen its Siguiri mine. Camara, who came to power in a December coup, had ordered the company to close down the mine on Friday after one of AngloGold’s directors missed a meeting at a mining forum that the leader had convened.

“We had a constructive meeting with the President last night and re-opened the mine today,” Joanne Jones, an AngloGold Ashanti spokesperson confirmed.

The military junta seized power in Guinea following the death of 74-year-old president Lansana Conte, who had ruled the country for 24 years.

Since coming to power, Camara, a 45-year-old former army captain, has vowed to fight corruption and improve living conditions in the impoverished West African nation.

He has detained the former prime minister and two former mines ministers on charges of embezzling money from state mining funds, Reuters news agency reported today.

Former prime minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare, and former mines ministers Louceny Nabe and Ousmane Sylla, were thrown in prison on March 23, the news agency said.

NGOs call the mineral-rich country (steeped in bauxite, alumina, gold, and diamonds) one of the poorest and most corrupt nations in the world.

Guinea borders Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and the Ivory Coast.

Camara has said that national elections will be held before December 2010.

In the meantime, however, political uncertainty in the country remains palpable.

AngloGold Ashanti’s Jones declined to comment on the situation. “On political instability, and on the mining sector’s future in Guinea, you would be better placed talking to a political expert on the country,” she said in an email.

Siguiri is AngloGold’s biggest mine in Guinea. The gold major owns an 85% stake in the mine and the state holds the remaining 15%.

Attributable production from Siguiri in the fourth quarter of 2008 reached 81,000 ounces of gold, with full-year production of 333,000 ounces.