ARTISANAL AND SMALL-SCALE GOLD MINES IN BURKINA FASO ...

FAM: Purchase of small equipment (CFA)
FLM: Mechanized equipment rental (CFA)FCS:
Consumables (CFA)
∆Min: Part of ore given to a sub-contractor (t)
CO = ΣFAM + ΣFLM + ΣFCS + (Σ∆Min × T × TRC × PAu) + ΣFST
T: Average ore grade (g/t Au)
TRC: Gold recovery rate (%)
PAU: Gold purchasing price paid by collector (CFA/g Au)
FST: Subcontracting costs (FCFA)
As an example, we estimated the average production cost per ton of ore on the reference site of Alga 3
(April 2002 data) to be:
CO /t Alga = 0.49 t ore + CFA 51,500
To reach the precarious financial equilibrium under such conditions, the minimum ore grade must be:
- 35.5 g/t Au if the produced gold is sold at the official market price of FCFA 4,500/g;
- 27.5 g/t Au if the produced gold is sold through parallel channels paying up to FCFA 6,000/g.
As ore grades at Alga are commonly between 20 and 60 g/t Au, it is obvious that, to be able to pay for
his operation, the artisanal miner generally will be forced to sell most of his production to the network of
clandestine buyers, who assure him 30% more revenue.
Only after enough ore has been extracted to cover all production costs will the earnings be shared among
the miners. Half of the remaining ore is owed to the pit owner, the other half being distributed in equal
parts among the various labourers, who may include the watchmen of the pit and the processing shed. It is
common for a shift boss to receive some extra ore as a bonus, which is taken from the pit owner’s share. A
miner’s revenue can be calculated as follows:
RM = [(Ot × Gr × Rec × PAu ) × ∆C - CO]/2 × Nt
Ot: Ore tonnage produced by the team (t)
Gr: Average ore grade (g/t Au)
Rec: Gold recovery rate (%)
PAU: Gold purchasing price paid by collector (CFA/g Au)
∆C: Unofficial mark-up of the collector (%)
Nt: Number of team members (h)
The collector’s mark-up is governed by strict rules, varying only slightly between sites. It corresponds
to the difference between the real weight and the weight announced by the collector using traditional assay
scales. The collector’s profit margin varies by agreement from 17% to 25% of the real weight according to
the used conventional commercial unit: mostly match stick (“brin”) or old CFA coins.
On the reference site of Alga, to gain € 1/day (CFA 655/d), a miner must process ore grading 43 g/t Au,
or 32 g/t Au, depending upon the marketing channel he wants to use. The pit owner, the “boss”, will
receive between four and 10 times more, depending upon the size of his permanent team.
Essentially, to make his operation pay, an artisanal miner in Burkina generally is forced:
- To mine only rich ore (>25 g/t Au); and
- To profit from the conditions offered by the unofficial channels.
THE INCREASING IMPORTANCE OF INFORMAL CHANNELS
The “fraudulent” part of gold production that, as mentioned above, seems to have steadily grown since the
more liberal mining laws have entered into force, can be selectively measured. It is fairly easily evaluated
on a given site with a well-defined perimeter. Such fraud can be estimated from an exact count of the staff
in each workshop, from an average productivity calculation for each task, and from “gold” assays of ore
and waste for the various processing steps. The crushing and grinding shops, the usual bottlenecks in ore
processing, are well suited to this type of approach. Such fraud can then be calculated using the following
formula:
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Post-rush site, reorganized by a cooperative group, is typical of artisanal gold mining in north Burkina. Rudimentary mining (no pumping) in
massive quartz vein to 40 m depth..
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