The tailings treatment plant was officially inaugurated on Tuesday 23 January 2024 by the President of the Transition, Ibrahim Traoré. Located in Ouagadougou and equipped with revolutionary technology, the plant is entirely designed in Burkina Faso.
The tailings processing plant is based on the use of local expertise in the transformation of national resources. As Joachim Marie Emmanuel Tapsoba, President and CEO of the Golden Hand SA tailings processing plant, explains, the plant’s equipment is designed entirely by Burkinabè craftsmen.
Turning to the question of equipment, the President of the Transition spoke of a revolution. “Burkina Faso is the second country in Africa to develop this technology; it’s a technology that can’t be imported, it has to be developed”, he said, praising the ingenuity of Burkina Faso’s researchers and inventors.
The establishment of this plant will enable Burkina Faso to process locally and have total control over the mine tailings that it used to export for processing. With mastered technology, the President of the Transition is confident that the people of Burkina Faso will be able to maintain their efforts in the production of machines and process mine tailings efficiently.
“This is a positive development in the context of sovereignty and therefore of taking control of our resources”, said Captain Ibrahim Traoré. He therefore invited neighbouring countries in West and Central Africa to migrate to Burkina Faso with their mining residues, because Burkina Faso has the technology to process them”.
As far as the financial outlook is concerned, Golden Hand SA is aiming for an annual trial turnover of around 2 billion FCFA over the first 3 years of its operation.
The mine tailings treatment plant represents a proactive response to the persistent problem of tonnes of mine tailings generated by the boom in the country’s extractive industry. It aims to efficiently recover the metals contained in various types of tailings, such as fine coal, slag, ash and acid concentrates. This step forward marks Burkina Faso’s commitment to an endogenous approach aimed at maximising the value of the country’s mining resources.
Georges YOUL
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