The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that Barrick Gold says it has reached a tentative agreement to solve a mining dispute with the Mali government, though uncertainty persists over the arrest of some of the company's employees in the West African country. The Globe's Niall McGee writes that Barrick in a Monday statement gave no details on the financial terms of the agreement, but said they would be revealed once the settlement was finalized. Barrick chief executive officer Mark Bristow said in the statement that negotiations with Mali "have proved challenging," but he looked forward to normalizing the relationship. Mali last year introduced a new mining code aimed at imposing higher royalties on foreign companies operating in the country and taking up to 35-per-cent ownership of mines. The ownership between Barrick and Mali in the Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex is currently split 80:20 in favour of the Canadian miner. Barrick had pushed back on the new mining code and challenged an audit of the company's operations in the country conducted by the military junta government. Mr. Bristow in May said that Barrick was dealing with people who "are not particularly competent in the mining industry."