Australian mining company Resolute Mining lost around a third of its value yesterday after the arrest of three employees, including its managing director, in Mali.

The company’s London-listed shares plunged 35.7 percent, or 12.3 pence, to 22.2 pence, in the biggest one-day sell-off since October 2008, at the depths of the financial crisis.

Boss Terence Holohan and two other executives were in Bamako, the capital of the West African country, for talks with local mining and tax authorities when they were “unexpectedly arrested” on Friday, a Resolute said.

Detained: Terence Holohan, the boss of Resolute Mining (photo) and two other executives were “unexpectedly arrested” in Bamako, the capital of Mali.

Malian authorities also arrested four Barrick Gold employees in September, highlighting growing tensions between the military regime and international miners.

Mali is one of Africa’s largest gold producers and the government is seeking to channel more of its revenue into state coffers.

Resolute owns 80 percent of its Syama gold mine and the government owns the remaining 20 percent.

“Resolute has followed all official procedures regarding its affairs and has provided authorities with detailed responses to all allegations made,” a spokesperson for the mining company said.

The FTSE 100 was back in the spotlight after four days of losses, up 0.7 per cent, or 52.8p, to 8125.19 and the FTSE 250 gained 1 per cent, or 205.61 points, at 20723.53.

It was a topsy-turvy session for Burberry. Shares of the luxury fashion brand rose about 5 percent in early trading due to continued speculation that Italian ski jacket maker Moncler is close to making an offer.

But they closed down 3.3 per cent, or 26.8 pence, at 778 pence after Moncler insisted it was not in talks.

Action Monitoring – Pantheon Resources

AIM-listed oil and gas producer Pantheon Resources has begun drilling operations on the Megrez-1 well in Alaska’s Ahpun field.

The company also said yesterday that it was “greatly encouraged” by Donald Trump’s support for the long-delayed Alaska gas pipeline project, which he had promised would be built after his victory in the US presidential election.

Pantheon shares jumped 24.5 per cent, or 5.55 pence, to 28.2 pence.

European defense stocks rose as pressure mounted on governments to increase military spending following Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.

In London, Rolls-Royce added 3.4 per cent, or 18.8p, to 572p and BAE Systems rose 1.2 per cent, or 16p, to 1393.5p. SAAB, meanwhile, rose 3.8 percent in Stockholm and Leonardo gained 4.3 percent in Milan.

Shares in chemicals company Croda jumped 5.2 per cent, or 189p, to 3793p after it reported a 5 per cent rise in third-quarter sales to £407 million.

It said it was on track to make profits of between £260m and £280m for the year.

Software provider Kainos climbed 6.2 per cent, or 49 pence, to 844 pence after reporting an 11 per cent rise in first-half profits to £34.2 million despite a 5 per cent fall. cent of its revenues to £183.1 million.

Customer review site Trustpilot rose 4.9 per cent, or 12.5p, to 269.5p after Deutsche Bank analysts began covering the stock with a ‘buy’ rating. Trustpilot shares are up 94% so far this year.

Fuel cell technology developer Ceres Power rose 4.5 per cent, or 7.7p, to 180p after analysts at Jefferies raised their rating from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’ and increased the target price by action from 190p to 265p.

Oil and gas engineer Wood made more gains after the stock crashed 60 percent on Thursday when it launched a review of contracts on its books and accounts.

It gained 16 per cent on Friday and 6.4 per cent yesterday, closing up 3.7p at 61.55p. Analysts at Morgan Stanley cut their price target on the stock from 185p to 85p.

DIY INVESTMENT PLATFORMS

AJ Bell

AJ Bell

Easy investment and ready-to-use wallets

Hargreaves-Lansdown

Hargreaves-Lansdown

Free Fund Trading and Investing Ideas

interactive investor

interactive investor

Lump sum investment from £4.99 per month

Sax

Sax

Recover £200 in trading fees

Trading 212

Trading 212

Free transaction and no account fees

Affiliate links: If you subscribe to a product This is Money may earn a commission. These offers are selected by our editorial team because we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.

Compare the best investment account for you