Approximately 435 tons of gold escape formal channels each year in Africa. In Côte d’Ivoire alone, 142 tons of gold leave official channels, resulting in an estimated loss of 4,600 billion CFA francs. Faced with this situation, the Ivorian state is implementing a strategy focused on three main areas: supervision, repression – with over 7,000 illegal sites dismantled – and formalization. This vision was presented on the sidelines of the ongoing World Bank spring meetings in Washington.
Côte d’Ivoire’s vision, represented by the Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Energy, Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly, is based on four major pillars: strengthening governance, including communities, professionalization, and optimizing the value chain, through tools such as digitalization of the mining cadastre and the creation of a national purchasing counter.
According to Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly, the expansion of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASGM) is accompanied by a rise in illicit flows, in a context marked by historically high gold prices. For Côte d’Ivoire, which aims to become the top gold producer in Africa by 2030, the challenge is to transform this challenge into an economic growth lever, through a structured approach presented to the G7, the World Gold Council, and international investors.
Internationally, Côte d’Ivoire emphasizes that no strictly national response can suffice in the face of a globalized market linking West Africa to major purchasing hubs located in the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, or India. The minister advocates for global coordination and enhanced traceability, drawing inspiration from the Kimberley Process model, to prevent the integration of illegal gold into formal value chains. This cooperation must also include strict regulation of chemical inputs, especially mercury and cyanide, whose parallel circulation networks continue to supply clandestine sites despite existing bans.
