• By official government notification
• The company intends to appeal
• The site was allocated to it at the end of 2021
The information was made public on September 6, on the website of the mining company Sarama Resources. The government of Burkina Faso has officially revoked the company’s rights to the Tankoro2 exploration permit. This permit hosts Tankoro, one of the two main deposits of the Sarama project of approximately 1,500 km², 100% owned in the southern Houndé gold belt.
It was granted at the end of 2021 to the mining company Sarama by the Burkinabe government at the time. In the details of the contract, the Tankoro 2 exploration permit has an initial duration of three years, renewable twice. This was the third license obtained by the company since August 2021.
A key on which Sarama relied to raise 2 million Australian dollars to finance its projects and which also enabled it in the process of listing on the Australian ASX stock exchange, announced since October 2020. This double listing (the company is already listed on the TSXV in Canada) should allow it to access more capital to develop its various projects in the country of Upright Men. The company’s two other projects in Burkina Faso are Koumandara, which is 100% owned, and Karankasso, in which the company has only an 18% interest.
This decision, communicated by an official notification, is contested by the mining company which, in a press release, announced its intention to explore all available means to appeal this decision. “Sarama intends to pursue all avenues of appeal against this decision,” it says.
Back to the facts
The granting of the Tankoro 2 permit took place on November 24, 2021, by the then Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries, Dr Bachir Ouédraogo, and the subsequent payment of the prescribed issuance fees within the required deadlines , on November 29, 2021, according to cross-checks carried out by L’Economiste du Faso. According to the laws applicable in Burkina Faso, after the granting of an exploration permit, the government issues the corresponding order (or license certificate), which is an administrative process. The company has successfully been re-assigned exploration permits through this same process on several occasions, and as recently as August 3, 2023, in relation to the Ouangoro 2 exploration permit.
L’Economiste du Faso attempted to obtain the reasons for this withdrawal. On the side of the Ministry of Energy, we were referred to Order No. 2023-366/MEMC/SG/DGCM withdrawing research permits in Burkina Faso.
At the end of August 2023, a list of 119 research permits had been withdrawn from their owners for failure to renew at the end of their validity period, in accordance with article 113 of law n°036-2015/CNT of June 26, 2015, relating to the Mining Code.
L’Economiste du Faso consulted this list and the Sarama resources permit does not appear there.
So what are the reasons for this withdrawal? We will come back to this.
JB
Boxed
Conditions for withdrawing a mining permit
Lhe Mining Code of Burkina Faso (law 036-2015/CNT of June 26, 2015 establishing the Mining Code of Burkina Faso) defines the mining title as “the regulatory act giving the prerogative to carry out research or exploitation of mineral substances, in accordance with the provisions of this Code. Mining titles include the research permit, the large or small mine operating permit, the semi-mechanized mining permit, the industrial mining permit for quarry materials and the mining permit. semi-mechanized exploitation of quarry substances”. If the Code defines the conditions for granting mining titles, it also specifies the conditions for withdrawal.
Indeed, article 112 of the Code specifies that any mining title or authorization may be subject to withdrawal, without compensation or compensation, by the authority which issued it, followed by a 60-day formal notice, remained unsuccessful.
This withdrawal may occur if one of the situations is observed:
– the holder of a permit or beneficiary of a research authorization engages in exploitation activities within the scope of his permit;
– the research activity is delayed or suspended, without valid reason, for more than six months;
– preparatory or operating works are delayed or suspended, without authorization, for more than 2 years and, with authorization, for more than six years for industrial exploitation permits;
– exploitation work is delayed or suspended, without authorization, for more than one year and, with authorization, for more than 2 years for authorizations for the industrial exploitation of quarry substances; preparatory or operating works are delayed or suspended, without authorization, for six months and, with authorization, for three years for semi-mechanized operating permits;
– exploitation work is delayed or suspended, without authorization, for six months and, with authorization, for one year for authorizations for semi-mechanized exploitation of quarry substances;
– assignment or transmission or any other unauthorized transaction; non-payment of duties and taxes provided for by mining regulations;
– non-achievement of minimum annual unit expenditures provided for by mining regulations; failure to comply with obligations relating to the environmental and social impact study or the environmental and social impact notice;
– serious infringement of the rules relating to hygiene, health and safety at work.
Article 113 indicates that withdrawal occurs without formal notice if the holder of the mining title or authorization: carries out the sale or illicit transaction relating to mineral substances; employs or tolerates the employment of children on its site; does not renew the permit or authorization at the end of its validity period; is guilty of breach of trust or fraud relating to a mining title or authorization or is deprived of his rights; uses dangerous chemicals, including cyanide and mercury, and explosive substances in artisanal mining.
But when a mining title or an authorization is the subject of dispute or dispute likely to threaten public order, the minister in charge of mines can take useful measures to suspend the mining title or withdraw the authorization, specifies the Article 114.
Source: Mines ACTU
