Knowledge-Sharing Workshop on Challenges and Opportunities for the Development Minerals Sector

This workshop, dubbed the “pre-SAMAO workshop” contributed to the advancement of Burkina Faso’s Development Minerals sector. Jointly organized by the ACP-EU Development Minerals Programme, UNDP Burkina Faso, and the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Quarries, the event assembled 150 stakeholders and technical experts. It facilitated structured South-South knowledge transfer among ACP-EU Programme partner countries, targeting sectoral optimization through analytical discourse.

The primary objectives of the workshop centered on accelerating formalization of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Enterprises (ASMEs); value chain enhancement for Development Minerals; Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) standardization across community-impact operations; promotion of climate-resilient, economically viable alternative materials (e.g., Stabilized Earth Bricks for circular economy/zero-waste applications); and SME growth and employment generation, specifically addressing youth and women’s unemployment through sustainable enterprise models.

Technical sessions during the workshop focused on four domains:

• ASME formalization methodologies
• EHS best practices in mineral extraction and processing
• Circular economy Integration via stabilized earth brick production
• Sand value chain optimization for national economic integration

The workshop established a foundational technical dialogue preceding the 5th SAMAO Mining Conference, directly aligning with strategic imperatives for sectoral resilience, inclusive growth, and environmental governance within Burkina Faso’s development minerals landscape.

Presentations were made by the ACP-EU Development Minerals Programme (UNDP)’s staff, ASMEs from Cameroon, academia and researchers from the University of Dschang; regulators from the Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso and Tanzania, as well as the expert from UNEP-GRID Geneva. The highlights of the workshop were the practical demonstration sessions in making compressed earth bricks from laterite, demonstration of energy-efficient cooking stove from clay made in Cameroon, as well as technical guidance for production of clay pottery. The event also served as a platform to conduct training for trainers on environmental, health and safety issues, and on a zero-waste approach to laterite quarrying.

The workshop had strong ownership by the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Quarries, strong South-South collaboration orientation and vibrant exchanges. For the first time, artisanal miners, potters, policy makers and practitioners from across the four focus countries met in person to share knowledge on critical issues pertaining to the sector such as formalization, extension services, policy making as well as hands on training on value addition through knowledge transfer from Cameroon to new focus countries of the Programme. The workshop generated enormous interest from the participants from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Tanzania.

Speaking of the pre-SAMAO workshop at the opening ceremony, the representative of the EU Delegation in Burkina Faso said that “supporting such an activity makes the organization proud…; several delegations will share their experiences; this is something that is very important”.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Quarries, Burkina Faso, said in closing: “In many jurisdictions, the legislative framework is geared towards issues relating to large-scale mining. Regulation of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) is often limited to title issues with very little provision for other aspects – from a sustainability and viability perspective. ASM has long been practiced as a source of income, and the process of formalization drive is beginning to emerge only now.” He also highlighted the importance of the African Mining Vision (AMV) in “creating a mining sector that exploits the potential of mining artisanal and small-scale to advance integrated and sustainable rural socio-economic development.”