Burkina Faso has inaugurated its first gold refinery as President Ibrahim Traoré’s government seeks to process more of the country’s mineral wealth locally.
Traoré inaugurated the Raffinerie Nationale d’Or du Burkina Faso, known as RAFFINOR-BF, in the capital, Ouagadougou, on Monday.
The state-backed facility was built at a cost of about 11 billion CFA francs, or $19 million, and has an initial capacity to process 164 tonnes of gold annually.
Its capacity is expected to rise to 515 tonnes under a planned second phase.
The refinery will refine, assay, certify and securely store gold, allowing activities that were previously carried out outside the country to be handled domestically.
Traoré said the project was part of efforts to move Burkina Faso beyond simply extracting its natural resources.
“Our ambition goes beyond gold,” Traoré said at the inauguration.
“We want to make the mining sector a driver of industrial transformation.”
Reuters reported that Traoré said the country wanted to process its mineral resources locally and “take control of the entire value chain.”
The Burkinabe government said the refinery would help the country retain more value from its gold production and strengthen oversight of the sector.
Gold is central to Burkina Faso’s economy, accounting for nearly 94% of its export earnings, according to Business Insider Africa.
The refinery is expected to create about 100 direct jobs and more than 5,000 indirect jobs.
The government also plans to encourage local investment in gold processing as part of its wider push for economic self-reliance.
The refinery includes facilities for gold analysis, secure storage and other activities linked to the processing and marketing of precious metals.
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