Burkina Faso has opened its first gold refinery as the West African country seeks greater control over its mineral resources and a larger share of the value generated from gold production.
The refinery was inaugurated on Monday in the capital, Ouagadougou, by Captain Ibrahim Traore, who came to power in a 2022 coup.
The presidency described the project as a major step in the country’s drive towards what it called economic independence.
“Burkina Faso has reached a historic milestone in its quest for economic independence,” the presidency said in a statement.
Burkina Faso is Africa’s third-largest gold producer, producing more than 94 tonnes of the precious metal last year, according to the World Gold Council.
However, the authorities have struggled to regulate the country’s extensive informal gold-mining sector, which has been affected by smuggling and jihadist violence.
Traore has pursued policies aimed at increasing domestic control over the country’s natural resources, including nationalising several gold mines and promoting local industrial production in sectors such as cotton, tomatoes and textiles.
“Our ambition is no longer to be a country that simply extracts and ships our raw materials abroad,” the presidency quoted Traore as saying.
“We want to refine all our metals locally… we want to have the entire value chain here.”
The government suspended gold exports from informal mining operations in 2024 as part of efforts to reorganise the sector.
Mines Minister Yacouba Zabre Gouba said at the time that the measure was intended to improve oversight of the industry.
Traore has also warned that significant quantities of gold were being smuggled out of the country, arguing that the illicit trade could help finance militant groups.
Burkina Faso remains heavily affected by attacks from jihadist groups, which have maintained a presence across large parts of the country despite military operations and the mobilisation of civilian volunteers to support government forces.
Gold has also become increasingly valuable as prices have reached record levels in recent months, increasing the incentives for smuggling and other illicit activities across the Sahel.
The National Gold Refinery of Burkina Faso, known as RAFFINOR-BF, has been under construction since 2023.
According to the presidency, the facility has an initial annual refining capacity of 164 tonnes of gold, with plans to eventually increase capacity to as much as 515 tonnes.
The refinery cost about 11 billion CFA francs ($19 million) and was financed by the Burkinabe government in partnership with domestic private-sector investors.
The project forms part of Traore’s broader drive to increase domestic processing of raw materials and reduce reliance on exports of unprocessed minerals.
