- 31.786 tonnes of gold produced between January and July 2023
- Down by 7.7% on the same period in 2022
- Gold rises to 1,949.6 US dollars
- 1,738.8 US dollars one year earlier
In July 2023, industrial production of fine gold totalled 4,258 tonnes, down 6.8% compared with June 2023. This information was revealed in the Monitoring report on economic and development indicators published by the Directorate General for the Economy and Planning (Direction générale de l’Economie et de la Planification – DGEP) in August 2023. The report shows that between January and July 2023, Burkina Faso’s gold production is estimated at 31.786 tonnes, compared with 34.445 tonnes over the same period in 2022. This represents a decline of 7.7% between the 2 periods. This drop in gold production in 2023 is mainly due to lower production in the first semester of the year at the Semafo Mana (-64.9%), Semafo Boungou (-46.7%), Bomboré (-44.1%), Houndé Gold (-24.0%) and Bissa Gold (-18.2%) mines. There are many reasons for these declines, including investment work at Semafo Mana and Bomboré, which disrupted production, and the concentration of Boungou’s management on selling the licence to the detriment of production.
However, the fall in gold production was offset by the firmness of gold prices on international markets. “In July 2023, the price of an ounce of gold rose to 1,949.6 US dollars, compared with 1,943.6 US dollars a month earlier. This represents an increase of 0.3% after two successive months of decline”, according to the DGEP report. Compared with its level in July 2022, the price of an ounce of gold is up by 12.1%. “The rise in the gold price in July 2023 would be explained by the effects of continued monetary tightening by central banks, sustained demand for the yellow metal and the depreciation of the US dollar during the month,” the report says.
Gold is selling in dollars. The DGEP took an interest in its evolution. The dollar traded at 593.3 FCFA in July 2023 compared with 605.2 FCFA in June 2023, a fall of 2%. Year-on-year, the US dollar fell by 8.0% against the CFA franc.
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