March 8 (Reuters) - Barrick Gold ( GOLD ) remains "fully engaged

and committed to reaching a mutually beneficial resolution" with

Mali to end a dispute over its assets there, its chief operating

officer for Africa and the Middle East said in a memo seen by

Reuters on Saturday.

The Canadian miner and Malian government have been locked in

a dispute since 2023 over the implementation of the West African

country's new mining code, which gives the state a greater share

in Barrick's Loulo-Gounkoto gold mining complex.

Barrick said on January 13 that it was obliged to

temporarily suspend mining operations in Mali after the

government seized around three metric tons of gold stock from

its complex. The government had been blocking the company's gold

exports since early November.

Reuters reported on February 19 that Barrick had signed an

agreement to end the dispute, which then went to the state for

formal approval.

While there has not been any major hiccup since then, the

deal is taking some time to be finalised, one person close to

the process told Reuters.

Previous deals with other mining companies operating in Mali

also took "some time" to be signed by the government, according

to another person familiar with the deals.

In the company memo sent to staff on Saturday, Sebastiaan

Bock said there are "no major updates at this stage".

"As a reminder, all non-critical operations remain

temporarily paused until further notice," he said.

Salaries and annual bonuses have been maintained for staff

despite the suspension. But one of the complex's suppliers told

Reuters in early March that Barrick had two months' worth of

overdue payments.