Captain Traore feels good with Burkina Faso refining its own gold

29.9.2026
Burkina Faso junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré Monday opened the country’s first ever gold refining facility and he is feeling good about it.
Traore who cut ties with traditional Western allies and leaned more on Russia, said it was about the Burkina Faso took charge of mineral wealth by mining and processing it at home.
“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 the capital, Ouagadougou, on Monday.
Capt. Traoré has previously accused smugglers of taking large quantities of gold out of Burkina Faso illegally and said some of the proceeds were helping finance militant groups.
The refinery also forms part of a broader government campaign to process more commodities domestically rather than exporting them in raw form.
Burkina Faso is one of Africa’s biggest gold producers, but the 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 11bn CFA francs ($19m; £14m), according to the presidency.
It said the project was financed by the state, including through the National Precious Metals Company (Sonasp), in partnership with Burkina Faso’s private sector.
The plant will initially be capable of refining 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.” With BBC reports