Burkina Faso has opened its first gold refinery as leader Ibrahim Traore pushes to keep more mining and processing profits within the country.

Burkina Faso has opened its first gold refinery as leader Ibrahim Traore pushes to keep more mining and processing profits within the country.

The $19 million Raffinor-BF plant in Ouagadougou can initially refine 164 tonnes of gold a year, with plans to expand capacity to 515 tonnes and process gold from across West Africa.

The government has increased the state's supervision of mining, requiring foreign companies to give it 15% of shares and tightening the supervision of trade in artificial gold.

Traore says the goal is to build the entire domestic gold value chain and reduce dependence on foreign companies.

Source: Reuters