Burkina Faso's junta leader opens major gold refinery to keep mining profits at home

Burkina Faso’s junta chief inaugurates major gold refinery to keep mining wealth at home

Captain Ibrahim Traoré has pushed for state control of Burkina Faso’s natural resources

Burkina Faso has launched its first gold refinery as the military-run administration aims to process more of the nation’s mineral riches domestically and strengthen its grip on one of its key sectors.

Junta leader Ibrahim Traoré said the initiative was part of a broader push to end the country’s dependence on exporting raw materials for treatment overseas.

"We want to refine all our metals on site... we want to have the entire value chain on site," he said at the plant’s opening in the capital, Ouagadougou, on Monday.

Burkina Faso is among Africa’s largest gold producers, but the authorities have found it difficult to oversee the informal mining sector, which has been affected by jihadist violence.

Traoré’s government hopes the new plant will help turn the landlocked nation into a regional centre for gold refining.

As gold output has increased, Traoré’s administration created a state-owned mining company two years ago.

Foreign mining companies are now obliged to give the state a 15% share in their operations and train local workers.

The World Gold Council said production rose by 17% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026, supported by higher output at several mines.

But successive governments have struggled to regulate the country’s large artisanal and small-scale mining industry, where smuggling and informal trading have made it hard for the authorities to track all the gold produced.

The government has also said that some illegally traded gold helps fund the Islamist insurgency that has spread across much of the country.

Burkina Faso has been battling armed Islamist groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State for years, with large parts of the country outside full government control.

The new refinery, called Raffinor-BF, cost more than 11bn CFA francs ($19m; £14m), according to the presidency.

It said the project was funded by the state, including through the National Precious Metals Company (Sonasp), in partnership with Burkina Faso’s private sector.

The plant will initially be able to refine 164 tonnes of gold a year, far more than the country’s current annual output.

The government says its eventual capacity could increase to 515 tonnes, indicating it also wants the refinery to handle gold from elsewhere in the region.

"This is the day we take back the keys to our own house," Mines Minister Yacouba Zabré Gouba said at the opening.

"Our gold will no longer be used to create added value for others while our people remain in need."

The refinery is the latest part of Capt Traoré’s effort to expand state control over Burkina Faso’s natural resources and cut the economy’s reliance on foreign companies and former Western partners.

Since taking power in a coup in September 2022, the 38-year-old army captain has advanced a nationalist economic agenda focused on domestic production and greater control of strategic industries.

His government has stepped up state involvement in mining and has tried to reorganise the artisanal gold trade.

The authorities suspended exports of gold from artisanal and semi-mechanised mines in 2024, saying the measure was meant to improve regulation of the sector.

Capt Traoré has previously accused smugglers of moving large amounts of gold out of Burkina Faso illegally and said some of the proceeds were helping finance militant groups.

The refinery is also part of a wider government drive to process more commodities at home rather than exporting them in raw form.

Traoré has described such projects as proof that Burkina Faso is becoming more economically self-reliant, alongside investments in sectors including cotton, textiles and food processing.

His policies have come amid historically high international gold prices and rising global production. Worldwide mine output reached an estimated record 3,672 tonnes in 2025, according to the World Gold Council.

Burkina Faso’s government says the new plant should eventually be able to refine all the gold produced by both its industrial mines and artisanal miners.

Several West African countries are also trying to process more of their gold domestically.

Guinea and Ghana have restricted exports of unrefined gold, while Mali is building its first refinery with help from a Russian firm. Ivory Coast also plans to open a refinery next year.