Burkina Faso produced 60 tons of gold in 2020 and is expected to bring in more than 2,000 billion CFA francs (3.72 billion U.S. dollars) to the state coffers, the outgoing Minister of Energy and Mines Oumarou Idani has announced.

The figures record a growth rate of 20 percent with 50 tons of gold produced in 2019, he said during a handover ceremony to his successor Ismael Bachir Ouedraogo on Friday.

Idani underlined that the industrial mining sector represents 71 percent of Burkina Faso's export earnings and employs 51,000 people.