Comparative Analyses of the Return on Investment of 2013 and 2015 Mineral Policy Reforms in Burkina Faso

This paper evaluates the effects of the changes in Burkina Faso’s mineral policies of 2013 and 2015 and their economic attractiveness using the Natougou Project as case study. Cash flow analyses shows a higher NPV of US $93,817,833.84 and an IRR of 44.67% under the 2015 Mining Code. Sensitivity analysis shows the project was less sensitive under the 2003 Mining Code as it takes a 18.25% decrease in the revenue for the project to break even as against 13.04% under the 2015 Mining Code. The project was insensitive to changes in operating cost and capital cost under the 2003 Mining Code but will not be viable if the capital cost and operating cost increase beyond 30% and 32.75% respectively for the 2015 Mining Code. An amount of US $ 321,488,366.61 will accrue to the government for 2015 Mining Code as against US$ 245,442,053.07 for the 2003 Mining Code.