Madar (Ouagadougou) - Burkina Faso's Council of Ministers on Thursday, November 5, 2026, adopted three decrees on the mining sector, including the creation of a state company called "Faso SANU" ("gold" in the Dioula language) and rules for the exploitation of illegal mining sites, according to the council summary published by the Burkinabe government.
The session was chaired by head of state Captain Ibrahim Traore, according to government spokesman Gilbert Ouedraogo.
The first decree sets the conditions and procedures for reorganising the exploitation of illegal mining sites, including those subject to conflicts and those of a "strategic character for the State". Energy, Mines and Quarries Minister Yacouba Zabre Gouba said it aims to "establish a calm climate" for artisanal gold mining, warning that "anyone found guilty of employing children on mining sites will face the full rigour of the law", according to the summary.
The second decree creates Faso SANU as the State's technical arm to reorganise the sub-sector and implement the first decree. The company will be 50% owned by the National Precious Substances Company (SONASP) and 50% by the Public Treasury. The third decree adopts its statutes.
For the health sector, the council adopted a decree amending the ministry's organisational chart in line with the new territorial division and the creation of municipal medical centres. It provides in particular for a Faso Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Faso CDC), a Burkinabe agency for traditional medicine, provincial health directorates and provincial hospital centres, and dissolves the biomedical equipment management and maintenance company SOGEMAB.
The council also adopted a bill revising the 2019 law on the orientation of sport and leisure. Its main innovations include social protection and decent pay for athletes, making national teams' participation in international competitions subject to prior government authorisation, and stronger rules on athletes' health and anti-doping.
The mining decisions come days after thousands of gold miners were expelled from sites in Siguiri, Guinea, with hundreds arriving in Mali, a crisis that has affected Burkinabe nationals among others.
