Burkina Faso opens first gold refinery as it pushes for greater value from its mineral wealth
The RAFFINOR-BF refinery has an initial capacity of 164 tonnes a year, with Burkina Faso planning to more than triple that capacity as it seeks to keep more of the gold value chain within its borders
Burkina Faso has launched its first gold refinery, a huge milestone as the country aims to process more of its mineral wealth locally instead of exporting gold for refining elsewhere.
President Ibrahim Traoré officially opened the Raffinerie Nationale d’Or du Burkina Faso, known as RAFFINOR-BF, in Ouagadougou on September 28.
The state-backed refinery represents an investment of more than 11 billion CFA francs (about US$19 million) and has an initial theoretical refining capacity of 164 tonnes of gold a year. A second phase is expected to increase the facility’s capacity to 515 tonnes annually.
The five-hectare facility includes a foundry, gold analysis laboratory, secure storage facilities, a jewellery unit and administrative buildings. According to Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Quarries, Yacouba Zabré Gouba, the plant uses modern, enclosed and automated equipment and is designed to produce fine gold with a purity of up to 99.99%.
For a country where gold is a major source of export earnings, the refinery represents taking back power and ownership of their minerals.
In a YouTube video posted APT, who were at the refinery’s opening, Traoré said the country’s approach to its mineral resources needed to change.
“Producing in quantity is no longer enough. Extracting is no longer enough. Exporting our resources in raw form is no longer enough.”
The quotation is translated from French from Traoré’s remarks in the APT video. APT video report: ‘Extracting Is No Longer Enough’: Burkina Faso Opens First Gold Refinery
Traoré said the refinery formed part of a broader ambition to establish more of the mining value chain inside Burkina Faso.
“From now on, gold from Burkina Faso must not only be extracted in Burkina Faso, it must be processed, controlled, valued and certified in Burkina Faso,” he said, according to reporting of his inauguration remarks.
Capturing more value locally
The refinery is being positioned as part of a wider restructuring of Burkina Faso’s mining sector.
The government says reforms implemented in recent years have sought to increase national participation in mining, improve the collection and traceability of gold and strengthen the state’s interests in the sector.
RAFFINOR-BF is expected to provide infrastructure for refining, assaying, certification and secure storage, activities that have traditionally formed part of the international gold supply chain outside the country.
The government says the project is intended to help create additional value and skilled employment while improving oversight of gold flows.
Burkina Faso produced more than 90 tonnes of gold in 2025, according to figures cited during the refinery’s inauguration. The country’s gold production has continued despite significant security challenges affecting parts of the country.
The refinery’s first-phase capacity of 164 tonnes therefore exceeds the country’s reported annual production, although the facility’s stated capacity is intended to accommodate gold from different sources and support the government’s longer-term ambitions for the sector. That capacity is also set to expand substantially.
A second phase is expected to take RAFFINOR-BF’s theoretical refining capacity to 515 tonnes per year, creating potential capacity to process gold beyond Burkina Faso’s current production levels.
