Burkina Faso opened a refinery to process the country’s gold reserves domestically, a demonstration of the junta-led government’s resolve to prevent raw mineral exports. The nation is among Africa’s largest gold producers, but has struggled to regulate its informal mining sector.
Junta leader Ibrahim Traoré, who inaugurated the new plant on Monday, said it was part of a long-term approach for the sector: “For everything related to the extractive industry, we want to have the entire value chain in the country.” He vowed to enshrine domestic control over other minerals, including lithium, copper, and nickel.
Governments across the continent are pursuing policies aimed at capturing more value from their natural resources. African leaders have increasingly argued their countries should build domestic processing and refining capacity, rather than shipping fossil fuels and critical minerals abroad.