En Français ci-dessous -------- The mining sector in Burkina Faso was previously mostly dominated by small–scale and artisanal endeavours. Small artisanal mining in Kalsaka started in the early 1980s and intensified after the 1984’s drought when low harvests forced farmers to diversify their sources of revenues. It was then an activity practiced during the dry season. But from the 2000s most of the population depended on it. Numerous of the artisanal miners were women. For many years, the national organization Orcade has been supporting them by informing them about their rights and the hazards they expose themselves through the manipulation of heavy metals. Recently, the GDP-led development agenda of the government counts on the multiplication of industrialized and large-scale mining projects. The arrival of Cluff Gold plc (became Amara Mining plc in 2012) in Kalsaka implied land expropriations of local landowners and the drastic reduction of lands accessible for artisanal mining. By 2012, the extraction in Kalsaka pit ended because of the depletion of the ore. Yet, a year later by 2013, the new acquisition by Amara of Seguénéga site implied violent displacements and the road built between Kalsaka and Sega sites divided villages from fields. The promises of local employment were not honored. For the local communities industrial mining meant increased poverty and exacerbated socio-economic living conditions. Orcade led participation action research on the gendered differentiated impacts of the industrialization of mining in Kalsaka. Women are the most worst off. The monetary compensations only considered the expropriations from the farming lands while the artisanal miners were not compensated from losing access to the lands for gold panning. When men were able to migrate, women remained with their offspring. They had no more access to the neighbouring lands for subsistence farming nor to the gold deposits for monetary complementary revenues. They looked for alternative sources of revenues. They have come together and prioritized the generation of income through activities such as livestock farming and fabric dying as well as cultivating lands further away from their village. Amara Mining plc fed a fund during the activity years at Kalsaka which is intended for the rehabilitation of the open-pits. It includes up to 9 billion CFA francs. Perseus Ltd, Amara’s new owner, remains accountable for the restoration of the sites. It is apparently a legislative blank and a lack of political willingness which keep on delaying the start of the environmental rehabilitation of the open pits. By March 2017, this situation remains the same. The cyanide and arsenic pollution of the soil continues limiting agriculture and threatening wildlife.

Kalsaka mine is one of the country’s largest industrial exploitation sites (2.500 ha). Its industrial exploitation started in October 2008 by Cluff Gold plc (which became Amara Mining plc in 2012) and lasted until 2012 when the ore reserves were depleted. The national government hold 10% of the mine's ownership. The mine was being supplied with the water from the Kanazoe dam. In July 2013, Amara was granted another exploitation permit, at Seguénéga, 20km away from Kalsaka (4.900ha). The gold extracted at Seguénéga was leached at the Kalsaka plant. By the last quarter of 2014, operations stopped at Sega site too, after a default notice of the local contractor BCM International. Perseus Mining Ltd bought Amara Mining pld in 2016 and so became accountable for the rehabilitation of the two mining sities [1].