On 7 July 2023, the Ministers of Mines and Finance signed a joint order transferring surface taxes to the beneficiary local authorities for the year 2022.
The total amount of surface taxes to be repaid to the beneficiary local authorities is 2,266,688,429 FCFA, i.e. 20% of the total amount of tax collected. The remaining 80% is paid into the public treasury.
The beneficiary local authorities are made up of 13 regions and 209 communes, representing 226.666 million FCFA for the regions and 2.040 billion FCFA for the communes.
The surface tax is created by article 145 of the Mining Code. This article states: “Any holder of a mining title or beneficiary of an authorisation is subject to the annual payment of a surface tax determined on the basis of the surface area and the age of the title or authorisation”. It also specifies that “the amount and terms of payment are specified by regulation”. Under the Mining Code, 20% of the surface tax is paid to the local authorities where the mines or licences are located.
In application of this provision of the Mining Code, the decree setting mining taxes and royalties has been adopted. This decree specifies the amounts to be collected according to the nature of the deposit exploited, the surface area and the age of the mining title or authorisation.
In addition to this decree, the 2018 interministerial order sets out the methods for distributing the share of the surface area tax that goes to the local authorities. In fact, 10% of this share goes to the regions and 90% to the communes. The distribution is made on an egalitarian basis between the beneficiaries.
How much is collected? Industrial quarries pay 100,000 FCFA per hectare per year.
For industrial gold mines, the amount of this tax is 7.5 million FCFA per Km2 per year for the first 5 years. From the 6th to the 10th year, this amount rises to 10 million FCFA per Km2. It rises to 15 million FCFA per km2 per year from the 11th year onwards.
For this distribution, the communes of Mané, Guibaré, Korismogo and Sabsé received the largest shares with 154.5 million FCFA each. They are home to the Bissa Gold mine. They are followed by the communes hosting Essakane SA, namely Gorom-Gorom and Falangountou, with 135.270 million FCFA each. The commune of Houndé, home to Houndé Gold, received 123.5 million FCFA.
Elie KABORE
#Mines_Actu_Burkina
