Côte d'Ivoire Aims to Become Africa's Leading Gold Producer
Currently ranked 7th in Africa with 58 tonnes of gold produced in 2024, Côte d'Ivoire has launched a major plan to overtake Ghana – the continent’s top producer with 149 tonnes.
The strategy is anchored in the government’s Integrated Plan for Mines and Energy (PRIME), a 15-year, $68 billion initiative designed to transform the country’s extractive and energy sectors.
The country’s strengths include:
Rapid growth: Gold production has already tripled since 2014, rising from 20 to 58 tonnes;
Vast geological potential: Estimated at 600 tonnes of undiscovered or undeveloped gold reserve.
It takes "on average less than five years" to go from the discovery of a deposit to the start of production, according to Ivorian Minister of Mines Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly.
This stability and predictability make it, according to Justin Tremain, head of Turaco, a mining company active in Ivory Coast, "the best place in the world" to develop a gold mine.
About $20 billion – or 30% of the PIRME budget – will be channeled into the mining sector by 2040 through public-private partnerships, aiming to catalyze exploration, infrastructure, and industrial capacity.
Key challenges ahead:
Tripling industrial gold production by 2040 to reach leadership status;
Attracting more investment in exploration to fully unlock the 600-tonne potential;
Formalizing and better regulating the artisanal mining sector, whose undeclared output is estimated at 30–40 tonnes per year.