Ouagadougou — Burkina Faso expects to produce a record 55 tonnes of gold in 2018, a two-thirds increase on five years ago, as new projects in the landlocked West African country come on tap, the mining minister said in an interview. Speaking in his office in the capital Ouagadougou late on Thursday, Oumarou Idani said gold production had hit 45.5 tonnes in 2017. That puts it ahead of Tanzania as Africa’s fourth-biggest gold producer — after SA and Burkina Faso’s neighbours Ghana and Mali. The forecast for this year represents a 20% increase on 2017, and at current levels would put its industrial production on a par with number 3 producer Mali. "There is gold everywhere in Burkina Faso, in every region," Idani said. "With this strong potential, naturally it is attracting investment." A decade ago Burkina Faso was better known for the cotton it grew than the gold it mined, but since then a gold rush has transformed it into one of Africa’s hottest destinations for frontier mining. In 2...
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