Burkina Faso reports record productions of gold, zinc in 2018

In Burkina Faso, 2018 was a year of performance in the mining sector with record productions of 52.622 tons of gold and 165,100 tons of zinc, according to a government document issued on Wednesday.

Quoting mining and quarries minister Oumarou Idani, the document underscored that the mining sector returned export revenues of 1,600 billion CFA francs ($2.714 billion) and 266 billion CFA francs of fiscal revenues.

Containing information from the ministry of mining and quarries, the document reported that Burkina Faso enjoys a mining boom characterized by significant increase of productions.

Gold production in the West African country reached 45.6 tons in 2017, up from 800 kg in 2007.

Besides the macro-economic fallouts, mining sector appears as a major employer since mining industries have provided 10,000 direct jobs and 26,100 indirect jobs.

Also, local communities take advantage from the momentum through the Local Development Mining Fund (FMDL) created pursuant to the mining code.

For 2017 and 2018, FMDL disbursed a total amount of 11.76 billion CFA francs  that has been apportioned among all the communities and regions of Burkina Faso since September 2019.

The economic operators in construction, banking, transport, catering and service provision sectors in Burkina Faso also benefit from the mining boom, according to the document.

Source: GNA