On the morning of Monday, September 28, Burkina Faso leader Ibrahim Traoré inaugurated the RAFFINOR-BF gold refinery in the Ouaga 2000 district of Ouagadougou. The 5-hectare facility includes the following units:
- Foundry workshop
- Analysis laboratory
- Secure vaults
- Small jewelry unit
The refinery, which cost more than 11 billion CFA francs and was established largely through the state budget, will have a capacity of 164 tons per year in the first phase and 515 tons in the long term. Burkina Faso’s gold production in 2025 was 94 tons. Although gold is the country’s main export, it had previously been refined abroad.
The share of artisanal mining in production has increased in recent years. While 57.67 tons of industrial gold and less than half a ton of artisanal gold were recorded in 2022, the artisanal gold collected by the state amounted to 8.1 tons in 2024 and 42 tons in 2025. Established in October 2023, SONASP sought to bring this flow into the formal system through buying offices and a new mining law. SONASP collected 29 tons in the first 6 months of 2026.
While insecurity has reduced industrial production, artisanal gold has provided compensation. However, filling the refinery’s capacity requires industrial companies to refine their output within the country, as well as suitable commercial conditions. The price of gold fell to approximately $4,150 per ounce on September 28.
Why it matters
The refinery stands out as a policy step aimed at reducing the problem of the country’s main export product’s refining stage remaining dependent on outside the country. This is important not only for processing more gold revenues within the country, but also for bringing production into the formal system and managing the amount the state collects from artisanal mining. However, the gap between the facility’s capacity and Burkina Faso’s current production shows that expanding the formal buying system alone may not be sufficient. Industrial companies refining their output within the country, the establishment of suitable commercial conditions, and limiting insecurity’s impact on production are the key conditions for capacity utilization. The open question is whether different sources of production can consistently supply the refinery.