Le Drian added that said the Malians, most of them militants, had been killed in airstrikes and direct combat with French troops.
The defense minister said the last major town in northern Mali to remain in the hands of the militants, Kidal, was now under French control.
Air attacks are continuing on suspected militant hideouts north of the town.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has said that France may begin pulling out of Mali as early as March.
He added that "if everything goes as planned, the number of troops should diminish".
France has an estimated 4,000 troops in Mali and officials from multilateral institutions and dozens of countries have been meeting in Brussels to discuss how to replace them.
France launched its war in Mali on January 11 under the pretext of halting the advance of the fighters in the West African country.
Thousands of people in Mali have been forced to flee their homes amid the French war, which involved some 3,500 troops on the ground supported by warplanes, helicopters and armored vehicles.
The United States, Canada, Britain, Belgium, Germany, and Denmark have already said they would support the French war in Mali.