Analyse comparative des textes juridiques applicables à l’exploitation minière artisanale de l’or dans l’espace UEMOA

The report assesses the legal frameworks for artisanal gold mining in UEMOA member states, identifying significant gaps in strategic planning, institutional coordination, and regulatory alignment. It highlights that most national laws are reactive and out of touch with field realities, particularly regarding mechanization and environmental protection. The document recommends the creation of 'reserved gold mining zones' as an integrated approach to formalize the sector, introduce cleaner gravimetric processing technologies, and improve fiscal collection and social protections for vulnerable miners.

• Most UEMOA member states lack an integrated sectoral policy for the gold mining value chain, leading to administrative and legislative reforms that are typically reactive and curative rather than based on a pre-existing strategic vision.
• Institutional models for managing artisanal mining vary across the region, ranging from centralized ministerial control in Benin, Togo, and Senegal to a specialized national agency in Burkina Faso (ANEEMAS) and communal management in Mali.
• Current legal definitions of artisanal mining in most UEMOA countries are outdated because they prohibit mechanization, which is already a reality on the ground and necessary for improving gold recovery rates and reducing labor hardship.
• The legal status of the Artisanal Mining Authorization (AEA) is generally precarious, with short validity periods (one to five years) that discourage miners from investing in innovative technologies or formalizing their activities.
• Environmental regulations for artisanal mining are often too lenient or ignored, with most countries not requiring an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) before granting an AEA, despite significant risks of water contamination and deforestation.
• Fiscal systems for artisanal mining are inefficient and overly centralized, often consisting of multiple overlapping taxes that lead miners to avoid formal payment and engage in fraud or smuggling.
• Gold commercialization is poorly controlled by states, with a high prevalence of informal 'collectors' and 'financiers' and a lack of traceability, which increases the risk of money laundering and the financing of terrorism in the Sahel.
• The 'Clean Gold' (or propre) pilot project in Burkina Faso demonstrated that using centrifugal concentrators for gravimetric treatment can increase gold recovery by twofold and eliminate the use of mercury.
• The report proposes the creation of 'reserved gold mining zones' as a temporary and exclusive spatial tool to experiment with formalization, environmental standards, and the deployment of gravimetric tools.

APA

Nikièma, H. S., Naré, C., Somda, A., Samoura, K., Kaboré, É. B., & Kaboré, B. (2020). Analyse comparative des textes juridiques applicables à l’exploitation minière artisanale de l’or dans l’espace UEMOA. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/miniere-artisanale-uemoa.pdf

Chicago

Nikièma, H. Suzy, Clémence Naré, Adrien Somda, Karim Samoura, Émile B. Kaboré, and Basile Kaboré. Analyse comparative des textes juridiques applicables à l’exploitation minière artisanale de l’or dans l’espace UEMOA. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2020. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/miniere-artisanale-uemoa.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nikièma |first1=H. Suzy |last2=Naré |first2=Clémence |last3=Somda |first3=Adrien |last4=Samoura |first4=Karim |last5=Kaboré |first5=Émile B. |last6=Kaboré |first6=Basile |title=Analyse comparative des textes juridiques applicables à l’exploitation minière artisanale de l’or dans l’espace UEMOA |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=March 2020 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/miniere-artisanale-uemoa.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nikima2020analyse, author = {Nikièma, H. Suzy and Naré, Clémence and Somda, Adrien and Samoura, Karim and Kaboré, Émile B. and Kaboré, Basile}, title = {{Analyse comparative des textes juridiques applicables à l’exploitation minière artisanale de l’or dans l’espace UEMOA}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2020}, month = mar, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/miniere-artisanale-uemoa.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }