Burkina Faso mine rehabilitation fund collected 29.59% of expected contributions in 2023 and 49.55% in 2024

The Fonds de rehabilitation et de fermeture des mines (FRFM, the Mine Rehabilitation and Closure Fund) receives contributions from industrial mines, semi-mechanised mines and industrial quarries to finance rehabilitation of land affected by extraction. On 13 October 2021 the Cour des comptes (Court of Audit) presented a performance audit of environmental monitoring and rehabilitation of mining sites for 2015-2019. It found that the Ministry of Environment lacked functional mechanisms for environmental feasibility opinions; that state bodies lacked capacity for inspections, environmental audits and monitoring of environmental and social management plans; that reports were unavailable or unpublished; that none of the five communes covered included rehabilitation monitoring in its development plan; and that the lack of rehabilitation funds was linked to the absence of bodies to validate rehabilitation plans. The sites covered included Poura (a closed former SOREMIB mine), Wahgnion, Youga, SOMISA (Sanbrado) and Orezone Bomboré, in the communes of Niankorodougou, Poura, Zabré, Boudry and Mogtédo.

A report of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Quarries, received by the Council of Ministers on 14 February 2024, stated that as of 31 December 2022 six industrial mines had not paid their FRFM contributions and 49 industrial quarries were also behind; the government did not name them. FRFM resources stood at CFA 57.13bn at December 2022, and the unpaid amount for the six mines was CFA 7.53bn (about USD 12.26 million, as converted by Ecofin).

On 20 November 2025 the Council of Ministers reviewed the joint annual FRFM reports for 2023 and 2024, presented by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Sanitation. In 2023 the fund expected 24,390,112,439 FCFA and collected 7,218,359,131 FCFA (29.59%) from three industrial mines; 14 semi-mechanised mines and 31 industrial quarry companies paid nothing. In 2024 it expected 27,708,991,244 FCFA and collected 13,731,554,442 FCFA (49.55%) from seven mining companies; 17 semi-mechanised mines and 34 industrial quarry companies paid nothing. The government announced firmness toward non-paying mining companies and industrial quarry operators and an obligation to submit rehabilitation and closure plans, and sought unpaid contributions of more than CFA 31bn for 2023-2024 (USD 54.8 million, as converted by Ecofin).

In the week before 12 October 2026 an interministerial report on the fund's 2025 contributions was validated in Ouagadougou. More than 14bn FCFA were collected in 2025; of 17 industrial mines subject to the fund, 10 paid, as did 4 of 11 semi-mechanised mines and 3 of 44 industrial quarries, according to the Direction générale des mines et de la géologie. A new Mining Code was adopted in July 2024.

On 9 July 2026 the Council of Ministers granted the SOPAMIB Bouboulou industrial gold mine permit in Yako commune, Passoré province. Its report lists an expected direct contribution of 34,510,513,827 FCFA to the state budget, 4,418,183,589 FCFA to the mining development fund and a forecast rehabilitation and closure contribution of 965,569,966 FCFA, with 7.27 t of gold over 15 years and 1,272 jobs.