Mali National Transition Council has approved the creation of a new state body to regulate and centralise the marketing of gold, particularly from artisanal and small-scale mining, as the country seeks to curb smuggling and improve oversight of its most important export.
The council unanimously adopted legislation establishing the Malian Precious Substances Office (OMASP), which will operate under the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, according to official details released this week.
The new agency is mandated to regulate, monitor and centralise trade in gold and other precious substances, with a focus on tightening control over artisanal production that often escapes formal reporting systems.
Authorities said the reform is aimed at addressing long-standing gaps between declared gold output within Mali and import figures recorded by trading partners, discrepancies that have been linked to illicit cross-border flows and revenue losses.
Gold remains the backbone of Mali’s economy, accounting for a significant share of export earnings and public revenue. Government data cited by the council indicate that national production reached more than 72 tonnes in 2022, with artisanal mining contributing a smaller but important portion.
The establishment of OMASP forms part of a wider reform drive in the mining sector, including a revised mining code that increases state participation in mining projects and strengthens compliance requirements for operators.
Mali has also pursued fiscal recovery efforts in the sector, including audits that reportedly recovered hundreds of billions of CFA francs in unpaid taxes from mining companies.
The reform comes amid a decline in industrial gold output, driven in part by operational challenges at major mining sites, while artisanal production remains widespread and difficult to fully track.
As part of its broader strategy, the government is also developing a gold refinery near Bamako aimed at improving traceability and increasing local value addition by processing raw gold domestically rather than exporting it.
However, analysts note that the success of the new regulator will depend on how effectively it balances tighter state control with the economic realities of artisanal mining, which remains a critical source of income for many rural communities but is often associated with informal trade and safety risks.
