The state-owned Qatar Mining Company (QMC) has been awarded four permits by the Mali government to carry out exploration at four potential gold mining sites in the West African state.

The permits will cover Tabako, Mininko Nord, Netekoto and Linguekoto in the west and south of the country. Any commercially viable amounts of gold would then require a full greenfield development project. No timeline was given except for a comment from the Malian government stating that the sites would be developed “over the next few years”.

QMC was established in 2010 to target projects in the global mining sector. This includes looking for investments in operating assets and developing greenfield sites across the metals sectors.

A key objective for the company is to secure the supply of raw materials to feed Qatar-based industries.