Gold has quickly become a lifeline for the military juntas in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. These governments are pouring billions—with some investing over half of their total budgets—into improving national security. Since 2010, military spending in Mali has tripled, climbing to 22% of the national budget by 2020. This transformation underscores the desperate need for these countries to obtain financial resources amid continuing hostilities. Gold mining has emerged as not only a key national revenue stream of late, but a muscle memory stomping ground for a host of increasingly armed militias.
Over the past few years, Burkina Faso has made major strides to become a hub of West Africa’s gold industry. The country is building its first gold refinery. Furthermore, it has established a national mining champion, the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), and mandatory local participation has been introduced whereby foreign companies must have a 15% local shareholding. This strategic step was intended to give more local control over the highly profitable gold industry. Simultaneously, it aims to increase national revenue.
In fact, Burkina Faso’s, Mali’s, and Niger’s combined gold production exceeds that of any other country in Africa. These three Sahel states together have a gold production of an estimated 230 tonnes a year. At today’s market rates, that gold represents a value of about $15 billion. A significant portion of this production is a result of artisanal and small-scale mining, which frequently takes place informally. Today national governments and jihadist insurgents are battling for possession of these crucial economic lifelines of the black market. This ever-growing competition is driving escalating violence across the region.
Critically, gold mining has become a major tax revenue source for the Sahelian governments. At the same time, it continues to exacerbate the radicalization of militant groups that are expanding their territorial influence in Mali and Burkina Faso. Long compounded by a lack of transparency, the connection between gold and conflict has ignited an ongoing debate over the ethicality of the gold trade. Alex Vines from the London-based think tank Chatham House underscores this issue, stating that “very little [of the gold revenues] will trickle down to Malians and Burkinabés.”
The worldwide appetite for gold is surging. Consequently, the dictatorships (or preferred nomenclature— military juntas) in these lands are in an increasingly unstable position. Armed groups are taking advantage of the lawlessness fostered by gold mining activities. The socio-economic fabric of the Sahel is becoming increasingly vulnerable. The recent global spike in gold prices might only contribute to aggravating these conflicts even more.
To these complicated factors, the growing influence of Russia in the region has only complicated the situation further. Even Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has been bolstering his new-found friendship with Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traoré. Russian firms are quickly expanding their footprints in Russian gold operations, buying out Western-owned firms. To what new relationships of power and control this shift leads within the rapidly evolving gold industry in the region remains to be seen.
While many miners pursue their livelihoods through the uncertain and often perilous conditions of gold extraction, they remain aware of the significant risks involved. A miner from Mali’s northern Kidal region explained the harsh reality: “Prices went up, but the extra profit goes to mine owners… It’s risky and uncertain, but for many of us, it’s the only option.”
The Sahel’s gold mining is largely informal, making it difficult to trace where the gold is coming from. Once it gets outside global markets, this is at first even more difficult. Dr. Vines further explains that “there is no ‘DNA testing’ for gold,” adamantly pointing out the difficulty of being sure your sourcing practices are ethical. Gold smelted in the UAE typically gets made into jewelry or sold in international bullion markets. Many of these products allegedly find their way into the UK through other means with no provenance.
Violent conflicts are intensifying in the Sahel. While this may be true, the link between military spending and gold mining exposes an ugly truth. Armed groups funnel millions into the region as they compete brutally for control over lucrative artisanal mines, making stabilization efforts much more difficult. Military juntas are turning to gold to fund their crackdowns and coups. This trend is creating a host of ethical implications surrounding accountability in global markets.