Senegal's president orders formation of National Gold Trading Centre

Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye on Wednesday ordered the formation of a National Gold Trading Centre to assert greater state control over the precious metal.

Faced with massive illegal gold exports that have drained billions from the national economy, he labelled the move as a “sovereign imperative”.

A study last year by Swiss NGO, SWISSAID, showed that that between 2013 and 2022, approximately 36 to 41 tonnes of gold were illegally smuggled out of Senegal.

This, it said, cost the country an estimated $2.38 to $2.71 billion over the decade with artisanal and small-scale mining as the main source of this undeclared flow.

Faye on Wednesday also announced a thorough overhaul of the mining sector in the spirit of transparency and good governance.

He asked the government to formulate a new Mining Code before the end of the year and to proceed with restructuring public companies in the sector.

Gold is currently Senegal’s main mining output, with exports reaching about $244 billion in the first half of 2024. This represented nearly 30 per cent of the total extractive sector exports.