The Financial Post reports in its Friday edition that Barrick Gold does not see a big risk that Mali will change its mining conventions, chief executive officer Mark Bristow said on Thursday, as the company raised its dividend and reported a near threefold jump in quarterly profit. A Reuters dispatch to the Post says that Mali's transitional government last week said it aims to review mining conventions after the West African country's auditor-general said they do not always protect the state's interests. In a report dated March 30, the auditor-general alleged that the Barrick's Loulo and Gounkoto mines owe the government $108.7-million including unpaid taxes and dividends. Mr. Bristow said that dispute has already been settled, and the company agreed to a payment with the government last year. "I don't see it as a sinister situation at all," Mr. Bristow told Reuters, referring to the mining conventions. Barrick shares jumped 4.9 per cent Thursday as gold's surge to around $2,000 an ounce propelled adjusted profit for the quarter ended Sept. 30 to $726-million, or 41 cents per share, from $264-million, or 15 cents, a year earlier. Gold production fell as the Porgera project in Papua New Guinea remained shut.