Burkina Faso has opened its first gold refinery as the military-led government seeks to process more of the country’s mineral wealth at home and tighten its control over one of its most important industries.
Junta leader Ibrahim Traoré said the move was part of a wider effort to end the country’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,” he said at the plant’s inauguration in the capital, Ouagadougou, on Monday.
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.
Traoré’s government hopes the new facility can turn the landlocked country into a regional gold-refining hub.
With gold production on the rise, Traoré’s government set up a state-owned mining company two years ago.
Foreign mining firms are now required to give the state a 15% stake in their operations and train local workers.
-Source: BBC
