Côte d'Ivoire PIRME — Politique Intégrée des Ressources Minérales et de l'Énergie (2025–2040)

Mechanism

The PIRME is the first integrated cross-sector industrial-policy instrument in Côte d'Ivoire's extractives and energy governance architecture, replacing the previous siloed approach of separate instruments (mining code, petroleum local-content law, annual fiscal measures) with a unified strategic framework spanning three interconnected sub-sectors: mining, hydrocarbons, and electricity. Minister Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly presented and secured Council of Ministers adoption on 3 December 2025; the SIREXE 2026 investor forum was announced simultaneously as the flagship implementation mobilisation event.

The CFA 38,000 billion (≈USD 68bn / €58bn) budget is allocated across three five-year phases through 2040, weighted energy (41%), mining (30%), hydrocarbons (29%), combining public expenditure with private capital mobilisation.

Mining pillar — key targets:

• Establish Côte d'Ivoire as Africa's leading gold producer with 50% local transformation (current

domestic processing near zero — almost all gold exported as dore/concentrate)

• 10 million tonnes annual iron-ore production (greenfield; northern Ivorian ore bodies not yet in

commercial production)

• Develop commercially viable manganese, nickel, and lithium deposits
• Mandatory national-content participation across the full mining value chain

Hydrocarbons pillar — key targets:

• Reach 500,000 bbl/day oil production (current output ~30,000 bbl/day — a ×17 target)
• Accelerate development of offshore gas discoveries to underpin energy transition and potential export

Energy pillar — key targets:

• 45% renewable energy share in national electricity mix (from current ~30%)
• 38% reduction in energy-sector emissions
• Universal electricity access coverage

Downstream implications

• The 50% gold local-transformation mandate creates the regulatory scaffolding for follow-on

export-restriction instruments (analogous to Indonesia's hilirisasi sequence: ore export ban → processing mandate → local offtake requirement); watch for gold-dore or concentrate export controls as a near-term PIRME implementing measure

• Iron-ore production target is capacity-constrained by absent rail/port infrastructure; a corridor

linking northern ore bodies (Monogaga / Tié) to Abidjan or San Pedro port is the critical-path dependency — bilateral infrastructure investment instruments likely to follow

• Lithium target positions CI within the emerging West African lithium belt alongside Guinea, Mali, and

Burkina Faso; potential anchor for future bilateral critical-minerals MOUs with Korean / Japanese battery supply-chain investors

• Hydrocarbons pillar anchored by the Baleine deepwater field (TotalEnergies / Petroci); the ×17

production-scale target implies acceleration of Baleine Phase 2–3 plus new-block licensing

• Largest single African industrial-policy financial envelope on the register (CFA 38,000bn dwarfs

Burkina Faso 016-2024 + Mali 2024-0396 in stated ambition); comparator is Morocco's New Development Model or Ethiopia's Ten-Year Development Plan

Open questions

• PIRME is a Council of Ministers strategy document, not primary legislation — whether amending Law

2014-138 (mining code) or enacting a new hydrocarbons + electricity omnibus statute is required to operationalise value-addition mandates

• Specific enforcement mechanisms for the 50% gold-processing target (tax differential, export levy,

administrative quota) are not yet public

• Lithium and commercial-grade nickel production targets depend on deposit confirmation; exploration

results timeline not disclosed