The permit covers the same perimeter as the original Menankoto permit and, in conjunction with the Bantako North permit, includes the Anaconda area about 20km from the Fekola mine.

The company also released an updated mineral resource estimate for the Cardinal-FMZ deposit, which is just 500m from the Fekola mine. The MRE included an initial indicated resource of 8 million tonnes at 1.67 grams per tonne gold for 430,000 ounces of gold, and an updated inferred resource estimate of 190Mt at 1.21g/t gold for 740,000oz of gold.

B2Gold said gold mineralisation at the Cardinal Zone extended over 3.5km along strike and intersected up to 350m vertically below surface.

Exploration on the Menankoto permit was scheduled to begin by February 15. Two drill rigs would be used initially, and additional rigs are set to be deployed shortly after. Drilling would also continue at the company's Bantako North permit.

The permit renewal follows a long process of discussions with the Mali government, which had told B2Gold in June last year it would not renew the company's permit for Menankoto before reaching an agreement in December.

Although the new permit covered the same perimeter, it was issued according to the 2019 mining code, rather than the 2012 code under which the project launched. It is valid for an initial period of three years and can be renewed for an additional two three-year periods.

The receipt of the new permit meant that B2Gold's Malian subsidiary withdrew the international arbitration proceedings against the government.

On February 2, B2Gold traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange at C$4.61/share, which was 1% lower on the day and valued the company at C$4.87 billion.