Shares in Acacia Mining bounced 8 per cent on Friday after the crisis-hit miner fought back against accusations that it had misstated the value of its gold shipments from Tanzania by up to 10 times.
The London-listed company said the claims made by a presidential committee in the east African country this week that it was under-reporting exports from its Bulyanhulu and Buzwagi mines did not stand-up to scrutiny.
“If the committee’s published findings were based on accurate data, Bulyanhulu and Buzwagi would be the world’s two largest gold producers,” the company said in a statement. “Given the magnitude of this discrepancy, we believe there should be an independent review.”
Acacia has not been able to export gold ore since March when the government of President John Magufuli blocked shipments of minerals in an effort to encourage more domestic processing of raw materials.
The company, which is majority owned by Canada’s Barrick Gold, says it is losing $1m a day as a result of the ban. Acacia mines the gold ore and then exports the powdered concentrate to facilities elsewhere for processing.
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