A judge in Mali has placed Canadian mining company Barrick Gold under provisional administration in an ongoing dispute with the military government over alleged unpaid taxes.

Barrick closed the mine in January after Mali’s government, which owns a 20 per cent stake in the project, carted off gold from the mine to a custodial bank. The ruling is a blow to Barrick, which had said it could not restart work at Loulo-Gounkoto until the government allowed it to export its gold.