Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

On 16 April 2026 the Government of Burkina Faso published Decree No. 2026-0287/PF/PRIM/MEF/MEMC in the Journal Officiel du Burkina Faso, authorising SOPAMIB — the state's strategic mining-participation vehicle — to acquire an additional 25% stake in Kiaka SA, the operating entity of West African Resources' (ASX: WAF) Kiaka gold mine, for 70 billion CFA francs (~A$175M / USD $125M). The acquisition raises total state equity from the 15% mandatory free-carry established under the 2024 Mining Code (Loi N°016-2024) to 40%, leaving West African Resources with a 60% operating interest; WAF's Sanbrado and Toega operations are not referenced in the decree. West African Resources confirmed the decree via an ASX regulatory announcement on 21 April 2026, noting that net proceeds will be returned to shareholders as a special dividend and that WAF will work with SOPAMIB to finalise transaction terms by end-2026. This action is structurally distinct from the June 2025 SOPAMIB nationalisation of five Endeavour/Lilium assets (Wahgnion, Boungou, three exploration entities), which involved a full transfer; the Kiaka decree is a compulsory additional equity dilution at a specific operating mine, deepening the Burkinabè junta's resource-nationalism arc under President Capt. Ibrahim Traoré.

On 11 June 2025 the Burkinabè Conseil des Ministres adopted Décret N°2025-0598/PRES/PM/MEMC, formally completing the transfer of five gold-mining assets to the state-owned Société de Participation Minière du Burkina (SOPAMIB): two operating gold mines (Wahgnion Gold SA and SEMAFO Boungou SA, formerly held by Endeavour Mining subsidiaries) and three exploration-stage companies (Ressources Ferké SARL, Gryphon Minerals Burkina Faso SARL, and Lilium Mining Services Burkina Faso SARL). The underlying share-and-social-interest transfer agreement was concluded on 24 August 2024 between the Burkinabè state and Endeavour Mining / Lilium Mining; the June 2025 decree formalises SOPAMIB's full legal ownership. Executed under President Capt. Ibrahim Traoré's "sovereign ownership of mining resources" doctrine and the authority granted by the 2024 Code Minier (Loi N°016-2024/ALT), the decree marks the first comprehensive operating-mine nationalisation in the AES bloc (Alliance des États du Sahel) and signals that Sahel resource nationalism has moved from legislative code-amendment into direct operating-asset seizure.

Loi n°016-2024/ALT was unanimously adopted by Burkina Faso's Assemblée Législative de Transition on 18 July 2024 and promulgated on 31 July 2024 under the Traoré military-transition government. The 309-article statute replaces Loi n°036-2015/CNT (26 July 2015) and its amendment Loi n°012-2023/ALT (25 July 2023), and is the central legal vehicle for the junta's resource-nationalism agenda. Headline structural changes raise the state's free-carried interest in any new mining venture from 10% to 15% (Article 66) and grant an additional ~30% paid-participation right that may be exercised by the state or a state-mandated investor; mineral processing and sales — notably gold — now require prior administrative authorization; domestic-investor capital-opening, local content, and overproduction penalties are strengthened. Four implementing decrees (mining-title procedures, mining taxes/royalties, sector-approval conditions, capital opening to national investors) were under validation as of October 2024 and are required for full effect.