Burkina Faso: SONASP and the fight against gold fraud, how the country regained control of its gold
Faced with the hemorrhage of artisanal gold to fraudulent circuits, Burkina Faso has opted for a structural response: the creation of the National Society of Precious Substances (SONASP). Born in October 2023 from the transformation of ANEEMAS, this state-owned company embodies President Ibrahim Traoré’s desire to put the state back at the heart of the marketing of gold, a strategic resource on which the national economy largely depends.
The observation that justified this reform is clear. Since the liberalization of the mining sector in the 1990s, the proliferation of private gold buying and selling offices had paved the way for massive fraud, depriving the state of considerable revenue.
SONASP has been given a clear mandate: to act as a one-stop shop for the purchase, storage and export of gold from artisanal and semi-mechanized mining to secure marketing channels and to pay the royalties collected to the public treasury. Since February 2024, all exports of artisanal gold have been suspended: production must now transit exclusively through SONASP.
The results of this reform are measurable. In 2025, national gold production exceeded 94 tons, an all-time high, including nearly 43 tons from artisanal and semi-mechanized mining, a segment that is now better structured and integrated into the formal economy.
This performance generated more than 776 billion CFA francs in budget revenue as of December 31, 2025. The National Anti-Gold Fraud Brigade (BNAF) has also carried out checks on counters, dismantled illegal offices and seized gold and sums of money, with several cases referred to the courts.
The ambition does not stop at the regulation of trade. In September 2026, President Traoré inaugurated RAFFINOR-BF, the country’s first gold refinery, financed to the tune of 11 billion CFA francs, notably through SONASP, with an initial capacity of 164 tons per year.
The message is clear: Burkinabe gold must be controlled, processed and valued on national soil. SONASP, initially an instrument for the fight against fraud, thus becomes the pivot of assumed mining sovereignty.
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