Resolute Mining's shares fell by 32% on Monday, their worst trading day in 16 years, after top executives at the Australian gold mining company were detained as part of a crackdown on foreign firms in Mali.

Chief Executive Terence Holohan and two other employees have been detained by government officials in Mali, where the Australian company runs gold-mining operations.

Shares of Australian gold miner Resolute Mining plunged more than 30 per cent on Monday after the company said its chief executive Terence Holohan and two other employees had been detained in Mali. The Resolute executives were in the capital Bamako to discuss with officials “open claims made against Resolute” that the group “maintains are unsubstantiated”,

The top executive and two other employees of Australia's gold mining company Resolute Mining have been arrested and detained by Mali’s military junta.

Shares of Australian gold miner Resolute Mining Ltd plunged 32% on Monday in their worst day in 16 years, after three of its employees including CEO Terence Holohan were detained by government officials in Mali.