The Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries, Simon Pierre Boussim, visited illegal quarrying sites in Ziniaré on 28 July 2023. The aim was to encourage these operators to comply with the regulations in force by formalising their activities.
“We went out to the quarries because we realised that these are substances of great importance to the national economy, but that many players are often unaware of them. They don’t know that there are regulations that need to be complied with. This is a way of inviting operators to become aware of the regulations and to comply with them”, said the Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries, Simon Pierre Boussim.
According to the Minister, this formalisation will enable the State to collect taxes and also provide operators with greater security. According to Minister Boussim, formalisation will enable the government to monitor quarry operations.
“We call these sites illegal because they don’t comply with mining regulations”, says Arsène Tiendrebeogo, Director General of Quarries. He explains that most operators apply for authorisations from the ministry responsible for the environment or from local authorities and think they are in order. But according to the Director General, as long as these operators are not recognised by the administration in charge of mines, they are acting illegally. He believes that the Minister’s visit is an opportunity to raise their awareness, because many of these operators think they are in order. By formalising their activities, the State can provide them with more support and build their capacity so that they can better exploit these sites, to the benefit of all Burkinabè, according to the Ministry of Mines. “These are very useful quarries, and we hope that by getting them to formalise, we can take greater advantage of these sites”, he added.
“In reality, if we arrive at a site, we contact the water and forestry service (editor’s note: at local level). They bill us. We pay an invoice to them before we start. We come to an agreement with them and they issue us with a certificate. We thought we were in order”, said Amed Damiba, an illegal quarry operator.
A total of 10 main illegal mining sites have been identified in the Central Plateau region. At most of these sites, an average of twenty 6- or 10-wheel lorries a day are loaded with substances. The substances loaded in these lorries are used in the construction of buildings and roads.
To date, the authorities have not been able to estimate the loss of revenue because they do not have any data. What’s more, the operators interviewed on the spot say they have no idea what the prices are for these truckloads. They confide that only their senior managers know the prices.
Regarding the measures that his ministry intends to take, the minister in charge of mines said: “If necessary, we plan to carry out a special operation to get them to formalise, and then we can crack down on those who refuse”.
However, Simon Pierre Boussim, Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries, is keen to reassure those involved that the purpose of this visit is not to police the industry. The aim is to get people to formalise their activities so that we can find out who is doing what and where, so that we can supervise them.
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