Top gold producer Burkina Faso opens first refinery

Burkina Faso, Africa's third-leading gold producer, inaugurated its first gold refinery on Monday, signaling a push to better organize the commercialization of the precious metal. The West African nation, which produced over 94 tonnes of gold last year, has traditionally struggled to control the informal gold mining sector, plagued by jihadist violence and smuggling.

President Ibrahim Traore, who seized power in a coup in 2022, nationalized several gold mines and launched a push to revitalize the country's industrial output, aiming for domestically driven and anti-Western policies. Traore inaugurated the refinery in the capital, Ouagadougou, expressing the nation's ambition to refine all its metals locally and have the entire value chain within the country.

Burkina Faso suspended exports of gold from informal mining in 2024 to better organize the sector. Mines minister Yacouba Zabre Gouba stated that the refinery, named the National Gold Refinery of Burkina Faso (RAFFINOR-BF), has an annual production capacity of 164 tonnes, with a projected long-term capacity of up to 515 tonnes. Built at a cost of 11 billion CFA francs (US$19 million), the refinery was funded by the state in partnership with the domestic private sector.