The 5th edition of the West African Mining Week (Semaine des Activités minières d’Afrique de l’Ouest – SAMAO) will be held from 28 to 30 September 2023 in Ouagadougou. This year’s theme is: “Mining in Africa: what strategy for impacting the development of local economies?”. As a prelude to this event, the national organising committee held a press conference on 5 September 2023 to provide details about the organisation and reassure partners that the conditions for holding the event are in place.
“The aim of holding this event is to reassure our current partners and attract other investors to this sector, which is one of the most resilient in our economy in the current climate”, said Jean Baptiste Kaboré, Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Quarries, who is also Chairman of the SAMAO National Organising Committee (CNO).
The Chairman of the CNO reassures all investors that securing investment remains a commitment of the government.
According to him, the socio-economic data describe a resilient business sector, with satisfactory indicators despite a security context imposing many constraints on the continuity of mining operations. So, he says, “After 3 years of suspension, we need to relaunch SAMAO this year as a major event”.
According to the Chairman of the CNO, “The 5th edition of this event will feature B2B meetings, exhibitions, panel discussions and visits to a mining site, a tourist site or a quarry”.
The event will be held from 28 to 30 September 2023 in Ouagadougou, at the Ouaga 2000 international conference centre. More than 2,000 participants comprising experts, investors, researchers and visitors from a wide range of backgrounds are expected to attend. As a reminder, the last edition of SAMAO was held from 26 to 28 September 2019 with the theme “the exploitation of mineral resources and opportunity for industrialisation in Africa”.
