Russian Mergers & Acquisition In Burkina Faso’s Gold Mining Industry

Russia’s Okto Group are negotiating with their fellow Russian mining company Nordgold to purchase a gold mine in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

The deal amount for the sale of Nordgold’s assets in Burkina Faso is estimated at being over US$1 billion. According to the latest disclosed data (for 2021), the combined production of Nordgold’s mines in Burkina Faso – Bissa and Bouly – was around 270,000 ounces. At the price of gold today, that would place the gold value at US$1.2 billion.

Okto Group entered gold mining in 2024 by buying mining assets from Polyus. In 2025 it added the Zapadnaya mining and processing plant along with several other projects and agreed to buy the Novo-Shirokinsky mine.

Nordgold is among the top 10 gold mining companies in Russia. The group also combines assets in Kazakhstan, Guinea and Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso is Africa’s 4^th largest gold producer and extracted 60,000 kg of gold in 2024. Gold represents about 70% of its total exports. The negotiations over Burkina Faso’s Bissa and Bouly gold mines reveals intense competition from within Russia to acquire overseas investments in strategic industries, and specifically in emerging, friendly markets.