Alousseni Sanou, the finance minister of Mali, was cited by Reuters on Tuesday in reporting that the West African nation and Russia had inked an agreement for the construction of a gold refinery in Bamako.

The non-binding memorandum of understanding calls for the building of a 200-ton-per-year gold processing plant, which, when finished, would be the biggest of its kind in the nation, Sanou stated in an interview with state television.

According to citations, Sanou stated, “This will allow us to not only control all gold production but also to be able to correctly apply all taxes and duties.”

The minister continued, “The document is valid for four years,” but he did not elaborate on the schedule for building.

With an output of 66.2 tonnes of industrial gold last year, Mali was among Africa’s top four gold-producing nations, after South Africa, Ghana, and Burkina Faso. Although the extraction of gold dominates Mali’s mining sector, the nation also produces diamonds, rocksalt, phosphates, bauxite, and iron ore.

The agreement to search for minerals and “cooperate in the field of peaceful use of atomic energy,” which may include the construction of nuclear infrastructure in the West African nation, was signed by Mali and the Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom less than a month ago. This latest agreement with Moscow follows that agreement. In October, during Russian Energy Week in Moscow, Mali signed a contract for the construction of a 200- to 300-megawatt solar power facility by mid-2025, with a Russian company.