Qualla: Morila Gold Mine https://qualla.com/morila-gold-mine en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Morila Gold Mine https://qualla.com/morila-gold-mine Morila Gold Mine: Introduction https://qualla.com/morila-gold-mine/ Miners gave it a nickname that stuck: "Morila the Gorilla." The name had nothing to do with apes and everything to do with strength — the brute, outsized richness of the ore coming out of the ground here, among the highest-grade gold the world had seen. For two decades this open pit in southern Mali, about 180 kilometers southeast of Bamako, poured out wealth at a rate few mines could match. Then the gorilla was abandoned. The story of Morila is the story of West African gold itself: spectacular fortune, foreign hands, and a nation determined to take back what lies beneath its own soil.

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]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/f/5/4/morila-gold-mine-wp/ef54-morila-gold-mine-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Morila Gold Mine: Strike https://qualla.com/morila-gold-mine/ The first drill bit to test the Morila deposit belonged to the mining giant BHP, which sold the ground to Randgold Resources in 1996. A year later, Randgold's geologists found the main pit — the heart of the deposit. By 2000 a joint venture had formed between Randgold (later fold...

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]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/f/5/4/morila-gold-mine-wp/ef54-morila-gold-mine-strike.mp3 0:06 2 full Morila Gold Mine: The Long Decline https://qualla.com/morila-gold-mine/ No gorilla stays strong forever. The richest ore comes first, and Morila's grades fell year over year — from over seven grams per tonne in the early 2000s to barely more than one by 2014. By 2009 the mine had shifted from digging fresh ore to treating stockpiles, and in 2013 it b...

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]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/f/5/4/morila-gold-mine-wp/ef54-morila-gold-mine-the-long-decline.mp3 0:06 3 full Morila Gold Mine: Abandoned https://qualla.com/morila-gold-mine/ In November 2020 an Australian company named Firefinch bought Morila for just 27.67 million dollars from Barrick and AngloGold Ashanti, taking an 80 percent stake while the Malian government held the rest. Firefinch, an ASX-listed gold producer that also held a major lithium deve...

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]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/f/5/4/morila-gold-mine-wp/ef54-morila-gold-mine-abandoned.mp3 0:06 4 full Morila Gold Mine: A Dollar and a Reckoning https://qualla.com/morila-gold-mine/ At the end of June 2025, after months of negotiation, the Malian government announced it had acquired Morila outright — for a symbolic single dollar. The gesture was part of a broader push by Mali's authorities to reclaim gold mines abandoned by foreign companies and revive them ...

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]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/f/5/4/morila-gold-mine-wp/ef54-morila-gold-mine-a-dollar-and-a-reckoning.mp3 0:06 5 full