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Armed groups behind deadly violence in the Sahel over the past decade are increasingly exploiting mines to finance activities and expand influence, conflict monitor ACLED said on Wednesday.
Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, Sahelian countries rich in mineral resources, are facing violence from groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State that have killed thousands across their territories for more than a decade.
“Militant groups are increasingly exploiting mining economies to finance their activities and to wage economic warfare against the states they are combating,” non-profit ACLED said in a report.
These groups use mining areas not only to generate revenue, but also to strengthen their territorial influence, control road networks and assert their authority over populations who depend on mining for their livelihoods, it added.
ACLED analysed more than 1,000 violent incidents recorded between January 1, 2015, and June 19, 2026, around industrial mines, large artisanal gold mining sites and other areas considered strategic for extractive activity in the three countries.
“During this time, JNIM was involved in 42 percent of all recorded mining-adjacent conflict events,” ACLED said, referring to the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims.
The Islamic State group accounted for 27 percent of incidents.
Violence occurring around mining areas accounts for five percent of all attacks recorded since 2015 in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the group stated.
Of the mining-related violence recorded in the central Sahel, 75 percent has taken place in Burkina Faso, compared with 15 percent in Mali and 10 percent in Niger.
But since 2024, the distribution has shifted and reflects “the growing spread of conflicts linked to mining across the central Sahel,” with “implications… for reaching neighbouring regions of coastal West Africa,” explained Heni Nsaibia, ACLED researcher and author of the report.
Gold is at the heart of the violence.
Thirty-nine of the 44 mining sites studied produced gold, while gold-bearing areas account for 90 percent of the violence recorded, ACLED said.
Mining basins that have become major hotspots of insecurity, highlighted by the study, include the Solhan, Essakane, Boungou and Inata mines in Burkina Faso; the Samira mine in western Niger; and also Tassiga and Tinzaouatene in northern Mali.
