Burkina Faso opened its first gold refinery in Ouagadougou on 28 September, with capacity to refine 164 tonnes a year, far above the 94 tonnes it produced in 2025.
The gap is deliberate. Junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré’s government wants the Raffinor-BF plant to become a regional gold-refining hub, and it plans eventually to raise capacity to 515 tonnes a year. It has not said when that expansion will happen or where the extra gold would come from.
Traoré inaugurated the refinery, which the presidency said cost more than CFA11 billion, about US$19 million. The state financed it through the National Precious Substances Company (SONASP), together with local private investors. Construction began in late November 2023. Officials expect the plant to create 100 direct jobs and 5,000 indirect ones.
At the launch, Traoré said Burkinabè gold must now be processed, checked, valued and certified at home rather than exported raw. “Natural resources belong to the people,” he said.
Gold is the backbone of the country’s economy. Prime Minister Rimtalba Jean-Emmanuel Ouédraogo said in January that production passed 94 tonnes in 2025, up from about 60 tonnes in 2024. Nearly 43 tonnes of that came from artisanal and semi-mechanised mining. The sector generated more than CFA776 billion in state revenue last year, the highest on record.
Much of that growth reflects the state bringing informal mining into official channels. SONASP buys gold from artisanal and small-scale miners through counters set up across the country. The refinery gives the government a way to process that gold domestically. Traoré has accused smugglers of moving large quantities of gold out of the country illegally and said some of the proceeds fund armed groups.
Mining has been badly disrupted by years of attacks by militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, and large parts of the country remain outside full government control. Since seizing power in a September 2022 coup, Traoré has cut ties with several Western partners, raised the state’s stakes in foreign-owned mines and pressed for greater national control of natural resources.
Burkina Faso is not alone in trying to keep more of its gold wealth at home. Mali is building a refinery with Russia’s Yadran Group. In 2025, Ghana created the Ghana Gold Board to take control of buying and exporting gold from small-scale miners.
