Burkina Faso

Gold, the main product of artisanal and small-scale mining in Burkina Faso, has become the main alternative income for the country's rural populations after agriculture and livestock. Artisanal gold mining proved to be a growing means of subsistence in the 1980s, following the great drought experienced in the West Africa region. However, the ASGM sub-sector has grown considerably with the rise in the price of gold since 2008. In addition to gold, other minerals such as phosphate, limestone, kaolin and clay are also exploited by the ASM sector¹. Estimates of the size of the ASM sector vary ranging from 200,000 people strictly in ASM to 1,000,000 operators in hundreds of artisanal mines and a small number of industrial mining sites across the country.