by Prosper Kuzo, Face2FaceAfrica.com
Captain Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso has opened his country’s first gold refinery with his military-led government aiming to process more of the nation’s mineral wealth at home and tighten its control over a key industry.
38-year-old Traoré revealed that the move was part of a broader effort to end his nation’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,” said Traore on Monday at the plant’s inauguration in the capital, Ouagadougou.
Today, Burkina Faso remains one of biggest gold producers in Africa, yet authorities have had a hard time regulating the informal mining sector, which has been struck by jihadist violence.
The government of Burkina Faso is now looking at the new facility as the regional gold-refining hub. It is clear that the production of gold is on the rise and Traoré’s government made sure to set up a state-owned mining company two years ago.
For foreign mining firms, they must offer the state a 15% stake in their operations and train local workers.
This new gold refinery by the government of Captain Ibrahim Traore is as part of a drive to keep more of the value generated by the country’s gold industry at home.
According to the presidency, the Raffinor-BF plant, which cost more than 11bn CFA francs ($19m; £14m), has an initial refining capacity of 164 tonnes a year – substantially more than Burkina Faso currently produces.
Authorities say the capacity could eventually rise to 515 tonnes, potentially allowing the refinery to handle gold from across the region.
The project was financed by the state, through the National Precious Metals Company (Sonasp), in partnership with the private sector.
“This is the day we take back the keys to our own house,” Mines Minister Yacouba Zabré Gouba said at the inauguration.
“Our gold will no longer be used to create added value for others while our people remain in need.”
The refinery comes as gold production expands but the authorities struggle to control a sector dominated in part by artisanal and small-scale mining. The World Gold Council reportedly stated that output increased by 17% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026, helped by higher production at several mines.
Smuggling and informal trading have made it difficult for the government to track how much gold is produced and traded, and officials have also alleged that some illicit gold sales help finance Islamist armed groups.
For years, Burkina Faso has been battling insurgents linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State, leaving large parts of the country outside full government control.
For Capt Ibrahim Traore, who seized power in September 2022, this new gold refinery is part of a wider effort to assert state control over strategic resources.
The 38-year-old head of state has championed greater domestic production and sought to reduce the country’s economic reliance on foreign companies and former Western partners, and this is considered a new shift in the West African nation.