The Burkinabè government began discussions on Friday with gold miners, for their formalization, in order to increase their contributions to socio-economic development, to fight against terrorism and to put an end to massive gold fraud, estimated between 9 and 30 tons per year towards neighboring countries.
Framework for exchanges and reflections of the actors of the artisanal mining of gold around the improvement of the governance of the sector, the second edition of the Day of the artisan miner (JAM) is held on July 21 and 22, 2023 in Gaoua under the theme: "Artisanal mining: what mechanisms for a formalization of the operators in order to improve the socio-economic benefits of the sector? ".
Indeed, the Minister of State, Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs, Kassoum Coulibaly, representing the President of the Transition, proceeded on Friday, July 21, 2023, to the official opening of this edition of the JAM.
According to the Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries, Simon Pierre Boussim, the JAM was created with the ambition of providing solutions to the problems of artisanal miners.
Also, it aims to be a meeting to promote good practices through the recognition of actors who stand out positively in their artisanal and semi-mechanized mining activities.
According to him, the President of the Transition is committed to making the exploitation of mineral resources a lever for development whose spin-offs will benefit the people of Burkina Faso.
The formalization of artisanal mining, a strategic sector employing an estimated more than one million people on gold sites and supporting two to three million people, is one of the priorities of the current Transition, suggested the first official in charge of the mining department.
“It is even necessary for the achievement of one of the strategic objectives of axis 4 of the Action Plan for Stabilization and Development which aims to “Develop a competitive industrial and artisanal sector, with high added value and creator of decent jobs, he argued.
The minister added that the mining sector reforms undertaken by the government aim not only to attract and secure national and foreign investments, to improve geological and mining knowledge.
But also increase the contribution of the sector to the economic and social development of the country, given the resources generated.
By way of illustration, with regard to artisanal gold mining, the data indicates more than six hundred active gold panning sites listed with more than one million people living from this activity (mapping of gold panning sites, 2018).
The activity provides income to more than three million people, said Mr. Boussim.
Although informal, according to data from the national survey on the gold panning sector carried out in 2017 by the National Institute of Statistics and Demography (INSD), more than 9.5 tonnes of gold metal corresponding to around 235 billion CFA francs come from mining.
“These data are revealing of the importance of artisanal mining in our society”, underlined the Minister in charge of Mines and quarries.
Continuing Simon Pierre Boussim, affirmed that the informal constitutes an obstacle to the improvement of the socio-economic repercussions related to this activity.
Indeed, many actors carry out artisanal mining without a title issued by the administration or on the basis of a title that is no longer valid, he lamented.
For him, this situation therefore constitutes fertile ground for fraud in the marketing of gold, which the government has undertaken to combat.
According to him, the results of various surveys have revealed that large quantities of gold from artisanal mining are the subject of fraud each year to neighboring countries (Togo, Mali, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger and Benin).
“Depending on the sources, the available data underline the fact that between 9 and 30 tons of gold would illegally leave the national territory each year,” he added. Hence, a financial loss of hundreds of billions of CFA francs suffered by the State, faith of the minister.
Formalize the sector
In the current context of the fight against terrorism, the informal is not the only problem related to artisanal mining, he said.
Apart from the informal, the minister affirmed that the information indicates a connection between the artisanal exploitation of gold and the financing of certain terrorist actions.
Hence, according to him, the need for a drying up of the financing of terrorism from this exploitation.
According to the Minister, it is important to move towards the formalization of the sector. Anything that will ensure the traceability of our artisanal mining, he added.
The spokesperson for artisanal miners, Abdoul Wahab Ben Sékou Barro welcomed the organization of this framework for exchanges and wished for its sustainability.
The difficult security situation has led the government to take measures, including the temporary suspension of artisanal mining activities throughout the national territory.
While understanding the merits of the measure, he requested from the Head of State, a relaxation of the measure in areas especially with low security challenges.
Mr. Barro also noted that the sector is still faced with several concerns related in particular to the weak supervision and organization of the sector, the weak formalization of the actors, the still rudimentary nature of certain means of exploitation and treatment, the often difficult cohabitation with the local populations and also with the industrial operators.
This is why the representative requested the unfailing support of the State through local supervision and the strengthening of the operational capacities of artisanal miners.
In addition, he said he hoped that at the end of this meeting, solutions capable of curbing the scourges that undermine artisanal mining will be found and support mechanisms will be put in place.
The end of the opening ceremony was marked by the visit of the stands On the sidelines of the opening of the second edition of the day of the artisan miner, the miners or gold washers handed over 50 motorcycles to the Combatant Forces, in order to fight against terrorism.
As a reminder during the two days, an exhibition of best practices in responsible artisanal mining and a reward for deserving actors in artisanal mining are planned.
Source: Burkina Information Agency