Fuel theft at mine forces African Barrick Gold to cut production targets

African Barrick Gold, the London-listed mining giant, today revealed it has uncovered "organised and systematic" fuel theft at one of its plants in Tanzania.

The company, part of the FTSE 100, admitted to investors that criminal gangs have "widely infiltrated" the mine, forcing it to suspend scores of staff and cut production targets.

The shares fell 51.92p on the news to 571.58p, leaving them below the March float price of 575p.

African Barrick Gold, which was spun out of Canada's Barrick Gold, had already cut its 2010 production forecast once this year because of delays accessing higher grade ore at Buzwagi, the Tanzanian mine.

It now anticipates full-year gold production on a par with the 716,000 troy ounces of produced in 2009.

The statement said: "Investigations into this matter indicate that criminal fuel theft syndicates have widely infiltrated our mining department.

"We have made the decision to suspend approximately 60 employees and a number of contractors, representing over 40% of the mining department, pending further disciplinary procedures."

Cailey Barker of Numis Securities said he was "a little bit surprised" the incident hadn't been brought to the market's attention sooner.