The transitional government has invoked the “public necessity” and specified that the company Endeavour Mining “will receive compensation”.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
Burkina Faso has requisitioned 200 kg of gold produced by a subsidiary of the Canadian group Endeavour Mining for “Public necessity”, a decision “dictated by an exceptional context”, according to the transitional government. For several years, the country has been engaged in a fight against jihadist groups linked to the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, whose bloody attacks have intensified in recent weeks.
Tuesday, February 14, a decree signed by the Minister of Mines, Simon-Pierre Boussim, announced the “requisition of gold produced by the gold mining company of Semafo Burkina Faso”. This decree stipulates that “in accordance with article 16 of the mining code”, 200 kg of gold produced at the Mana mine (west) are “requisitioned today for public necessities”. The text indicates that the mining company “will receive compensation corresponding to the value of gold thus requisitioned”, without more details.
Wednesday evening, the government wanted to “reassure investors and all other partners in Burkina Faso”. “The requisition decision is dictated by an exceptional context of public necessity which founds the State to ask certain mining companies to sell it part of their gold production,” said a statement from the government spokesperson, Jean- Emmanuel Ouedraogo.
The government press release specifies that this “exceptional and temporary” transaction is carried out “in the conditions of purchase of gold on the international market”. According to the Burkinabé mining code, “mining or career installations and extracted substances can neither be requisitioned, nor expropriated by the State only for a reason for public necessity and by means of just and prerequisite for” or by an arbitral or common law.
In operation since March 2008, Mana’s gold mine, one of the largest among the ten in Burkina Faso, produced 6.04 tonnes of gold in 2022, according to official figures. It is the property of Endeavor Mining, who merged in 2020 with the Canadian Semafo to form one of the largest gold producers in West Africa.