Burkina Faso Opens First Gold Refinery

Burkina Faso has opened its first gold refinery as the West African country seeks to strengthen state control over the commercialisation of its mineral resources and reduce gold smuggling.

The country is Africa’s third-largest gold producer, producing more than 94 tonnes of the precious metal in 2025, according to the World Gold Council.

Authorities have struggled to regulate informal gold mining, a sector affected by smuggling and jihadist violence.

The presidency described the refinery’s inauguration on Monday as a major step towards the country’s economic independence.

“Burkina Faso has reached a historic milestone in its quest for economic independence,” the presidency said in a statement.

President Ibrahim Traore, who seized power in a 2022 coup, has nationalised several gold mines and pursued policies aimed at expanding domestic industrial production in sectors including cotton, tomatoes and textiles.

Traore said the government wanted to move away from exporting raw materials and instead develop the full value chain within Burkina Faso, including refining metals locally.

“Our ambition is no longer to be a country that simply extracts and ships its 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 country suspended gold exports from informal mining operations in 2024 as part of efforts to better regulate the sector.

Traore had previously warned that large quantities of gold were being smuggled out of the country and argued that the illegal trade could help finance terrorism.

Burkina Faso continues to battle jihadist groups that control large parts of the country and regularly carry out attacks despite the mobilisation of a civilian volunteer force to support the military.

Gold, traditionally viewed as a safe-haven asset, has reached record prices in recent months, increasing the value of the metal and intensifying concerns over trafficking networks, including those that benefit jihadist groups in the Sahel.

The National Gold Refinery of Burkina Faso, known as RAFFINOR-BF, has been under construction since 2023 and has an annual production capacity of 164 tonnes, with plans to eventually increase capacity to 515 tonnes.

The refinery cost 11 billion CFA francs, about $19 million, and was financed by the state in partnership with domestic private-sector investors.