Ivory Coast plans to begin operations at a new gold refinery in the first half of 2027 as the West African country moves to process more of its minerals locally and raise annual gold production to 100 tons by 2030.
The Société Ivoirienne des Métaux Précieux (Simep) refinery will be able to process up to 100 metric tons of gold a year, Mines, Petroleum and Energy Minister Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly said in Abidjan.
‘The refining unit will begin operations by the end of the first half of 2027,’ Sangafowa-Coulibaly said.
The planned capacity is broadly in line with Ivory Coast’s expected industrial mine production as the country expands output from existing mines and develops new projects. Gold processed at the facility will be marketed with the assistance of US financial services company StoneX Group.
Ivory Coast currently produces about 60 tons of gold a year and ranked eighth among African gold producers in 2025, according to World Gold Council data. Ghana was the continent’s largest producer with 192.4 tons, followed by several other major producers including Zimbabwe, Guinea, Sudan, Mali and Burkina Faso.
The government wants to raise national gold production to 100 tons by 2030, with new mines and expansions at existing operations expected to drive much of the increase.
Perseus Mining is expanding its Yaouré gold mine, while Canada based Montage Gold plans to commission its Koné mine by the end of 2026. The projects are expected to add to national output as Ivory Coast seeks to expand its mining industry.
The refinery is part of a wider effort by African mineral producing countries to retain more value from their natural resources. Governments across the continent are increasingly seeking to move beyond exporting raw or lightly processed minerals by developing local refining and processing capacity.
Kenya has announced plans to prohibit exports of unprocessed minerals, including gold, while Ghana and Zimbabwe have introduced measures aimed at increasing domestic mineral processing.
For Ivory Coast, the planned refinery will allow rising gold output to be matched with greater processing capacity within the country. At full capacity, it could process roughly the same volume of gold as the government expects the country’s industrial mines to produce.
The government has set an even more ambitious longer term target of becoming Africa’s largest gold producer by 2035, putting the expansion of mining and refining capacity at the centre of its plans for the sector.