About Us > Why Burkina Faso:
Why Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso is located in West Africa, the world’s fastest growing gold producing region. The terrain of the country is flat making it much more accessible and its climate is arid which has resulted in the oxidization of near surface material. These two aspects make it easier to make discoveries and less expensive to bring those discoveries into production, two important factors in developing mining projects.
Between 1997 and 2001 gold production was declining in many countries. (See chart below) However in West Africa growth in gold production shot up 56% because of its favourable geology, modern mining codes, political stability, reasonable fiscal and taxation regimes as well as government support of the development of natural resources. Discoveries were not only made, they were brought into production in a timely and efficient manner and to accepted international environmental standards. This period of growth resulted in Ghana and Mali becoming the second and third largest gold producing countries in Africa.
Sources: US Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, 1997, 2001 (Russia, China, USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa). West Africa includes Ghana, Mali, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo (US Geological Survey Minerals Yearbook - 2001))
Burkina Faso was not part of this boom even though it is located between Ghana and Mali. A study by BRGM, a French government agency which does geological surveys in developing countries, concluded that Burkina Faso has the same age and type of rocks as Ghana and Mali. As a result, interest
in Burkina Faso’s resource potential is growing and the country is ready to do business with the mining community. It is a politically stable democracy with good infrastructure and an updated French-based mining code.
Orezone is strategically positioned in
Burkina Faso with approximately 3,600 square kilometers of properties that were largely accumulated during periods when there was very little interest in gold projects.
For more information on Orezone
properties,
click here
