Burkina Faso has opened its first gold refinery as the military‑led government seeks to process more of the country’s mineral wealth at home and tighten its control over one of its most important industries.
Junta leader Ibrahim Traoré said the move was part of a wider effort to end the country’s reliance on exporting raw materials for processing abroad.
“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 inauguration in Ouagadougou on Monday.
Burkina Faso is one of Africa’s biggest gold producers but authorities have struggled to regulate the informal mining sector, which has been blighted by jihadist violence.
The new refinery, known as Raffinor‑BF, cost more than 11 bn CFA francs (about $19 m) and is expected to initially refine 164 tonnes of gold a year, significantly more than the country’s current annual production.
The government says its eventual capacity could rise to 515 tonnes, suggesting it also wants the refinery to process 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.”
Since taking power in a coup in September 2022, Captain Traoré has promoted a nationalist economic agenda centred on domestic production and greater control of strategic industries. The move follows a 2024 suspension of artisanal and semi‑mechanised mine gold exports to better regulate the sector.
Foreign mining firms are now required to give the state a 15 % stake in their operations and train local workers. The World Gold Council reports output rose by 17 % year‑on‑year in the second quarter of 2026, helped by increased production at several mines.
The refinery also forms part of a broader campaign to process more commodities domestically rather than exporting them in raw form. Traoré’s policies coincide with historically high international gold prices and increased global production, with worldwide mine output reaching an estimated record 3 672 tonnes in 2025.
Several West African countries are also seeking to process more of their gold at home: Guinea and Ghana have restricted exports of unrefined gold, Mali is building its first refinery with a Russian partner, and Ivory Coast plans to open a refinery next year.
For more on Burkina Faso’s economic strategy, visit the BBC Africa news page.
