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In Burkina Faso, there is one sector that did not seem particularly upset by the recent coup: that of mining. On January 27, three days after the takeover of the military led by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, “ we made a golden expedition unhindered from our mine to overseas”reports Eric Gratton, director of external relations in West Africa for the Fortuna Silver Mines group.
This Canadian company operates the Yaramoko mine, in the west of the country, and refines the ore in Switzerland. Operations also continued normally on the other mines in the country, sixteen gold and one zinc.
Today, a coup no longer means the complete cessation of activity. “The era when the juntas coming to power nationalized the mines is oversays Indigo Ellis, associate director of the strategic consulting firm Africa Matters. Any future leader tries to protect the mining sector, which is a major source of foreign currency. » In fact, it is better to avoid seeing the collapse of cash inflows and investments in order to succeed in staying in power.
The new Burkinabe head of state, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, immediately took steps to reassure the mining groups, guaranteeing from January 27 the free movement of equipment and personnel, as well as the maintenance of export conditions. ore and the agreements in force. Gold represents 11% of the country’s GDP and constitutes, with cotton, 95% of export earnings.
Reassure operators
In Guinea and Mali, the two West African countries that experienced coups in 2021, the essential nature of mines in the economy also prompted the putschists to reassure the operators.
In the aftermath of the September 5 coup in Conakry, the colonel and head of the Guinean junta Mamady Doumbouya announced that the contracts signed would be respected and that the maritime borders would remain open in order to allow the mines to continue to operate following of an interview with the president of the Chamber of Mines, as revealed by the site AfricaIntelligence. In Mali, the military appointed a technocrat, Lamine Seydou Traoré, as minister of mines, to appease investors.
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