Burkina Faso, one of the five largest gold producers in sub-Saharan Africa, inaugurated its first gold refinery in Ouagadougou on Monday, Xinhua observed on site.
Named “RAFFINOR-BF,” the refinery, inaugurated by Burkinabe President Ibrahim Traore, cost 11 billion CFA francs (about 19 million U.S. dollars) and was financed by the state through the National Precious Substances Company and private partners, according to the Burkinabe authorities.
With an initial refining capacity of 164 tonnes of gold per year, the refinery was built in accordance with international standards and will process dore gold into fine-gold bars with a purity of 99.9 percent.
The facility includes a foundry, an analysis laboratory, a secure storage area and a jewelry-making unit. The project aims to strengthen local gold processing, increase the value added retained in Burkina Faso and better structure the marketing of the country’s gold production.
For Traore, the inauguration of the refinery marks a turning point in the country’s pursuit of sovereignty. In the guest book, he wrote that the facility reflected Burkina Faso’s determination to regulate strategic sectors with high potential and make them “the foundation of prosperity.”
“Our subsoil is rich and the people must fully benefit from its resources. We will provide ourselves with the means to master the extractive industry and, above all, to become a benchmark in Africa,” he wrote.
Since 2009, Burkina Faso’s mining sector has recorded sustained growth, driven mainly by gold mining. Gold has become the country’s leading export product, ahead of cotton.
In 2025, with 15 industrial mines and several semi-mechanized operations in production, Burkina Faso produced 94 tonnes of gold, according to Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Quarries.
In May 2026, the Burkinabe government announced the establishment of a sovereign mining fund named “Siniyan-Sigui” to finance structural investments.