Mining Activities and Sustainable Development Issues in Burkina Faso (West Africa)

Abstract

Burkina Faso is a landlocked country, which struggles to meet the international development standards. The country knows a “mining boom” since 2008 with more than 600 exploitation permits with many environmental, social, cultural issues due to the limit of the actual mining local code that was established since 2015. The majority of mining companies found in the country exploit most of all gold as the main ore. Sustainable Development requires a country to utilize rationally its natural resources while having on mind that next generations should also meet theirs. This study showed that even the Burkina Faso legal context of Sustainable Development suffers of the lack of applicable texts that could help in preserving the integrity of the population and the territory. Hence, this study requires that the local government should reconsider its mining exploitation code in order to reach a responsible sustainability. IAMGOLD Essakane is an example of an industrial mining company located in Burkina Faso since 2009. The current study showed that, the Essakane mining company proposes many ways to reach sustainability in its exploitation.