BURKINA FASO'S VANISHING GOLD BOOM PUTS LIVELIHOODS AT RISK
OUAGADOUGOU
- A gold mining boom in Burkina Faso over the last decade propelled Boukary Diallo from being a vendor on a market stall to running a meat business supplying a mine near Ouahigouya, his home town in the north of the country.
But as the West African country loses territory to Islamist militants and lurches from coup to coup, threatening to turn the boom to bust, Diallo is concerned he will be unable to retain all of his ten employees.
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"Things are getting tight," Diallo, 42, told Reuters by phone. "If the mine doesn't start up again in December, I will have to let some people go."
Karma mine, which Diallo supplies, was closed in June after a militant attack that left one worker and one soldier dead.
Acquired by Burkina-based firm Néré Mining from Endeavour Mining
(EDV.L) in March, Karma is one of at least four gold mines that halted production this year because of security risks.
Russia’s Nordgold in April stopped mining at Taparko, saying the lives of its staff were in danger.
The economy is also at risk.
Gold is Burkina Faso’s main export, accounting for 37% of total exports in 2020, and mining is a leading source of jobs.
For each person directly employed by a mine, there are three or four contractor
and services workers, the national association of mining contractors estimates.
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Diallo’s business, which had revenues of 100 million CFA francs ($151,399) in 2019, has been making barely 4 million CFA francs a month since the Karma mine shut, he said. The conflict has also stoked inflation, making livestock more expensive.
PRODUCTION SINKS
The decline in Diallo’s fortunes is reflected at the na
tional level.
At current rates, Burkina Faso is set to produce 13% less gold this year than in 2021, in part because of mine closures, government statistics show.
The start of production at Orezone’s Bomboré gold mine in late September was an exception to the trend.
In the nine months to end-September - the most recent period for which data is available - the country produced 43.651 tonnes of gold, down from 50.126 tonnes over the same period last year. -