Ouagadougou now possesses its own gold refinery. Captain Ibrahim Traoré, President of the Faso, inaugurated this Monday 28 September RAFFINOR-BF S.A., the country's very first unit capable of transforming raw gold into ingots with a purity of 99,99 %.
For the Head of State, the infrastructure embodies sovereignty over mineral resources, at a time when Ouagadougou intends for its subsoil to serve its economy first.
Located in the capital, covering five hectares, the plant brings together on a single site a foundry, an analytical laboratory, a secure storage area, a jewelry workshop, and an administrative building. Its enclosed and automated equipment was designed to limit environmental impact.
Its theoretical refining capacity reaches 164 tons per year in an initial phase and is expected to increase to 515 tons annually with the second phase, facilitated by the modular architecture of the facility, where new refining lines will simply be added to the existing ones.
The company's Managing Director, Adama Sawadogo, assures that the site meets the most demanding international standards for converting doré, the alloy extracted from mines, into fine gold. He specified that the investment amounts to 11 billion FCFA, financed essentially by the Burkinabe State through the National Precious Substances Company, the SONASP, alongside private partners.
In his speech, the President announced his intention to make the mining sector a driver of industrialization, job creation, and local development. According to him, 'Burkinabe gold must no longer be merely extracted on national soil; it must be transformed, controlled, valued, and certified there.'
The Head of State broadened the perspective to include all of the country's resources, citing manganese, copper, and zinc, and affirmed that Burkina Faso no longer wishes to be content with exporting its raw materials, but intends to refine its metals locally.
With this achievement, Burkina Faso joins the restricted circle of African nations that do not limit themselves to extracting their gold but refine it themselves, alongside South Africa, Ghana, and Egypt, whose refineries are among the most renowned on the planet. Fanuelle YAO
Published on 28/09/26 17:36
The Editorial Board