Côte d’Ivoire Unveils $66 Billion Mining and Energy Plan

Côte d’Ivoire presented its Integrated Mineral Resources and Energy Policy (PIRME) on Monday, Nov. 10 in Abidjan, with Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Energy Mamadou Sangafowa‑Coulibaly outlining a 15‑year strategy that aims to mobilise 38 trillion CFA francs—about $66 billion—toward the mining, oil and energy sectors.

The plan is designed to elevate the combined contribution of these sectors to 14 percent of the country’s GDP by 2040, making them a second pillar of the economy alongside agriculture. According to the policy, the private sector is expected to supply 88 percent of the investment, while the public sector will fund the remainder.

Central to PIRME are concrete infrastructure projects. A mineral port will be built at San Pedro to handle ore exports, while new railway lines will facilitate the movement of minerals from inland mines to the coast. An additional oil refinery is slated to open in the port city, an effort that also seeks to keep more processing activities on Ivorian soil.

Production targets set by the policy are ambitious. Oil output is to reach 500,000 barrels per day by 2040, and the country’s overall electricity generation capacity is expected to climb to 11,400 MW. In the mining sector, goals include producing 150 tonnes of refined gold and mining 1.25 million tonnes of manganese each year.

The policy places a strong emphasis on local processing and workforce development. By 2035, Côte d’Ivoire aims to source 95 percent of the goods and services needed by its extractive industry locally, and to have 95 percent of the workforce on oil platforms and at industrial mines be national. The government also intends to raise the proportion of renewable energy in the national electricity mix to at least 45 percent by 2030.

According to the Xinhua account of the policy’s launch, the initiative is built around sustainability and inclusiveness, innovation and technology, economic integration, and governance and transparency. The strategy seeks to balance resource development with agricultural growth, environmental protection and a more equitable distribution of economic benefits.

After the policy’s official unveiling, further steps have been taken to operationalise it. During the launch of the SIREXE market in Abidjan from Nov. 18 to 22, a memorandum of understanding covering the mining and energy sectors was signed on 31 July 2026 in Gaborone, underscoring continued international cooperation and investment tracking.

While the policy charts an ambitious trajectory, questions remain about the feasibility of its funding and execution. How will the government guarantee that private investors meet the 88 percent contribution target? What mechanisms will be put in place to ensure that local processing reaches the promised 95 percent of industry demands? And how will the plan address the environmental challenges associated with large‑scale extraction, especially given the ongoing issue of illegal gold mining that continues to pollute water sources and damage farmland?

In this regard, Ivorian researchers have been developing local technologies to tackle the damage caused by illegal gold mining. Their solutions focus on water contamination mitigation and farmland restoration, efforts that align closely with PIRME’s push for local processing and environmental stewardship. The researchers’ work illustrates the kind of innovation the policy aims to foster, but it also highlights the gaps that still need to be bridged.

As Côte d’Ivoire moves forward, stakeholders will need to negotiate the precise terms of investment, enforcement mechanisms for workforce and processing targets, and environmental safeguards. The policy’s success will hinge on delivering concrete actions to translate its high‑level objectives into on‑the‑ground outcomes, a challenge the government acknowledges but has yet to detail in depth.