The Ministry of Energy, Mines and Quarries, through its Directorate General of Quarries, organised a workshop on the exploitation of quarry substances on Thursday 14 September 2023 in Ziniaré, in the Central Plateau region. The aim of the workshop was to find solutions to the challenges facing quarrying in Burkina Faso.
The theme of the workshop is: “The quarrying sub-sector: issues, challenges and prospects”. The aim is to enable all quarrying promoters and the mining administration to discuss the major problems undermining the sub-sector. The workshop is intended to provide a forum for all industrial quarry operators to discuss the difficulties facing the sub-sector.
According to the Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Quarries, Jean Baptiste Kaboré, Burkina Faso has significant and diversified potential for quarry materials, which are used in agriculture for soil fertilisation, in mining for lime, and in building and public works for aggregates. He also points out that the quarry sub-sector has contributed more than one billion FCFA to the state budget in 2022 under the Local Development Mining Fund (LDMF).
However, he stated that despite all these results, the sector has not yet achieved the expected growth. This is due, among other things, to a lack of awareness of the texts, to production being declared on the cheap, and to the weak promotion and enhancement of development minerals. He therefore invited the participants to engage in frank discussions in order to come up with relevant resolutions and recommendations capable of improving the governance of the quarrying sub-sector.
Jean-Baptiste Kaboré also reassured the audience that his department was committed to implementing the recommendations emerging from the workshop.
The opening ceremony was chaired by the General Secretary of the Plateau Central region, Amidou Soré, whose region is home to more than a dozen quarries. These quarries are experiencing conflicts between the promoters and local populations.
Amidou Soré welcomed the meeting, which he said would enable all those involved to exchange views with a view to ensuring the peaceful exploitation of quarry substances and facilitating collaboration between the various players.
Georges Youl
#Mines_Actu_Burkina
