Burkina Faso is now mining, processing and refining its own gold. 🇧🇫🇧🇫 On September 28, 2026, President Ibrahim Traore inaugurated RAFFINOR-BF, Burkina Faso's first national gold refinery in Ouagadougou, marking a major shift toward processing the country's mineral wealth domestically. The refinery was built on a 5-hectare site at Ouaga 2000 with an investment of more than 11 billion CFA francs — roughly $19 million. Its first phase has an announced refining capacity of 164 tonnes of gold per year, with plans to expand that capacity to approximately 515 tonnes annually. The complex includes a gold foundry, analytical laboratory, secure storage facilities and a jewellery unit, alongside facilities for the country's state precious-metals company, SONASP. The objective is simple: Instead of extracting gold in Burkina Faso and sending it abroad for processing, more of the value chain will remain inside Burkina Faso. And this comes as the country dramatically increases its gold production. Burkina Faso produced approximately 100.7 tonnes of gold in 2025, according to recent national figures, compared with about 60.8 tonnes in 2024. The government says domestic refining will help reduce the export of raw gold, increase state revenues, improve control over the gold trade and combat fraud in artisanal and semi-mechanized mining. This is also part of a much broader restructuring of Burkina Faso's mining sector. In 2025, the state completed the transfer of five gold-mining assets into state ownership through its mining company SOPAMIB, seeking greater control over strategic mineral resources. The refinery's inauguration therefore represents more than simply opening a factory. It is an attempt to move from: “Extract the gold → export the gold → import the finished value” to: “Mine it → process it → refine it → add value → export the finished product.” President Ibrahim Traoré has described the broader objective as controlling the entire mineral value chain inside Burkina Faso. For a country whose gold is its most important export commodity, that could fundamentally change how much economic value is captured domestically. " Burkina Faso wants to stop being merely a place where gold is extracted. It wants to become a place where gold is transformed." Burkinabe belongs to the people of Burkina Faso 🇧🇫 🇧🇫