A final Mining Charter will be published by the government of South Africa for implementation by November 2018 and this has led to a cloud of uncertainty over the future of Africa's most important mining country as various stakeholders give feedback on draft charters. After all and given how the government's plan for “land reform” (aka seize White owned farms without compensation) has already helped to plunge South Africa into recession, both local and foreign mining investors are leery about putting new money to work in the country's mining sector which is already grappling with high costs and a generally volatile labor, political and ownership (including racial ownership quotas) environment. In contrast, the West African nation of Burkina Faso is quietly seeing a flurry of good news about new mining investments and/or production with one Canadian small cap in particular focused on the country poised to deliver more potentially good news or updates in the months ahead. Investment Snapshot While South Africa's new mining charter remains mired in controversy and uncertainty, Burkina Faso had already adopted a new Mining Code in 2015 aimed at striking a balance between state interest and the rights of mining operators, as well as including new provisions on environment protection, human rights and the fight against rural poverty. Recent news from the country's mining sector includes SEMAFO declaring commercial production at its Boungou mine while a $160 million contract to provide mining services for Roxgold has been awarded. In addition, a World Bank sponsored magnetic and radiometric mapping project for the government was also recently awarded and will help current and future mining players alike. Small cap Canada based Nexus Gold Corp (TSX-V: NXS; OTC: NXXGF; FSE: N6E) is a Burkina Faso focused gold exploration and development company with three projects in the country. In June, Nexus Gold Corp commenced a 4,000-meter RC drill program covering its three Burkina Faso projects plus initiatated a 105-line kilometer geochemical survey. The geochemical survey successfully identified an anomalous gold trend extending for approximately 7,000 meters that broadens to widths of 2,500 meters and aligns with a 5 km trend previously identified. This indicates a mineralized footprint exceeding 15 km in length. Burkina Faso: A Mining Success Story As of last year, there were 10 gold mining operations in Burkina Faso with another two gold mines under construction while gold production itself hit 45.5 tons – putting the country ahead of Tanzania as Africa's fourth-biggest gold producer after South Africa, Ghana and Mali (the latter two countries actually border Burkina Faso in West Africa). Earlier this year, Oumarou Idani (the country’s mining minister) said the following in an interview with Reuters: "There is gold everywhere in Burkina Faso, in every region… With this strong potential, naturally it is attracting investment." "Burkina is more dynamic, and is progressing faster…We are second only to Democratic Republic of the Congo on the continent in terms of investment in exploration." "Our big problem today is showing that we have other things besides gold. We have to diversify production. We mostly only produce gold, but we have huge potential in manganese, zinc, lead, copper, nickel and limestone." Idani went on to add that $100 million has so far been invested in exploration efforts in Burkina Faso and he expects his country to produce a record 55 tons of gold in 2018 for a two-thirds increase from just five years ago and a tenfold increase over the past decade. And while South Africa's new mining charter remains mired in controversy and uncertainty, Burkina Faso has already adopted a new Mining Code in 2015 aimed at striking a balance between state interest and the rights of mining operators, as well as including new provisions on environment protection, human rights and the fight against rural poverty (e.g. the creation of a local development fund for areas hosting mining sites, in line with the legislation of other francophone mining jurisdictions). In an effort to make mining popular with the general public, the Code included provisions for the creation of a fund to rehabilitate artisanal mining sites, prohibit the use of harmful chemicals and to finance geological research and support education in earth sciences. The adoption of the new code to replace 12-year-old mining regulations along with a new anti-corruption law were among the requirements set by the World Bank for the release of $100 million in budget support for country. As of late summer, the latest good news to come out of the Burkina Faso mining sector includes the following: Around the beginning of September, SEMAFO declared commercial production at its Boungou mine when operations reached the internal commercial production measure of 30 consecutive days of mill throughput at 75% of nominal design capacity. The Boungou mine began processing ore at the end of May and achieved its first gold pour on June 28th. For the year, the mine is expected to produce between 60,000 and 70,000 oz of gold in commercial production. At the recent Paydirt 2018 Africa Down Under mining conference in Australia, West African Resources MD Richard Hyde said the project financing process was well underway for the Company’s planned 11 year Sanbrado gold project. He noted: “There has been particularly strong interest from international resource banks, debt funds and royalty companies in financing Sanbrado.” The high grade project is aiming for more than 200,000 plus ounces of gold a year in its first five years at an All In Sustaining Cost of US$540 an ounce. Also at the recent Paydirt mining conference, Golden Rim MD Craig Mackay said the May milestone of the initial Indicated and Inferred mineral resource of 20.8 Mt at 1.5 g/t gold at their Banouassi prospect within its Kouri project area was “just the beginning.” Based on new exploration work undertaken since May, he was able to add: “We believe there is tremendous upside at Kouri. Our push is to continue an exploration program to see just how big this thing can be.” African Underground Mining Services (AUMS), a joint venture between Ausdrill Limited and Barminco Limited that's one of the leading underground mining service contractors in Africa, has entered into a $160 million contract to provide mining services for Roxgold’s Zone 55 (Yaramoko) and Bagassi South underground mines. The news comes shortly after Roxgold announced that it had received approval from the Burkina Faso Council of Ministers for the extension of existing processing plant infrastructure. The project will see an increase in through-put from 750 tonnes of gold per day to 1,100 tonnes per day. Nexus Gold Corp: Summer Drill Programs and Results from a Geochemical Survey There is one Burkina Faso mining player in particular that has been an will continue to produce a steady flow of news. Small cap Canada based Nexus Gold Corp (TSX-V: NXS; OTC: NXXGF; FSE: N6E) is an up-and-coming gold exploration and development company concentrated on exploration efforts primarily in Burkina Faso. The Company is working towards establishing compliant resources at one or more of its three current mining projects: The 38-square km Bouboulou project comprises no less than five established gold zones contained within three separate 5-km long gold trends. The adjacent 250-square km Rakounga gold concession extends the Bouboulou gold trends and currently contains three drill tested zones of mineralization. The Niangouela gold concession is a 178-square km project featuring high-grade gold occurring in and around a primary quartz vein and associated shear zone approximately one km in length. During the summer, Nexus Gold Corp made two important announcements that has already led to one update since then with more around the corner: A 4000-meter RC drill program covering the three Burkina Faso projects was commenced in mid-June and was set to consist of approximately 2,000 meters of reverse circulation drilling on the Rakounga exploration permit and 1,000 meters each on the Bouboulou and Niangouela exploration permits. President & CEO Alex Klenman noted: "This summer drill program, in addition to our current soil grid program, represent significant steps in the development of our Burkina assets. One of the primary goals of these programs at the combined Bouboulou-Rakounga concessions is to increase the size of the overall mineralized footprint while generating data to help establish the nature of the proximal relationship of the known gold zones. Niangouela is an earlier stage project, but the high-grade discovery we made there last year makes this a compelling project to pursue. We're looking forward getting back up there and exploring the new zone." The initiation of a 105-line kilometer geochemical survey on the Rakounga permit designed to aid in identifying gold bearing potential on the permit ground occurring between the Koaltenga gold zone (located near the western boundary of the Rakounga concession) and Pelatanga-Rawema gold trend (on the Company's adjacent Bouboulou exploration permit). At the end of August, Nexus Gold Corp announced that the geochemical survey had successfully identified an anomalous gold trend extending for approximately 7,000 meters (seven kilometers) that broadens to widths of 2,500 meters. This trend aligns with the 5 km Pelatanga-Rawema trend previously identified on the adjacent Bouboulou concession and indicates that a mineralized footprint at the combined Bouboulou-Rakounga concessions now exceeds 15 km in length. President & CEO Alex Klenman commented: “We're pleased with the results, that's a big footprint, and suggestive of the potential at Rakounga." Senior Vice-President of Exploration Warren Robb also added: "It is impressive how the geochemical data highlights the gold trend coming off the Bouboulou ground. We will combine this data with the regional geophysics data to identify any coincidental anomalies, and then look to test those anomalies along the trends." Its worth mentioning that a World Bank sponsored magnetic and radiometric mapping project for the government of Burkina Faso was recently awarded to an ultra-high resolution geophysical surveys specialist out of South Africa. This is in addition to an on-going programme called Projet de Développement du Secteur Minier (PADSEM) that is designed to improve mineral resource confidence in the country so that the government can further encourage investment in the mining sector. Such programs will ultimately benefit everyone – including current players in the country's mining sector like Nexus Gold Corp. Otherwise, we will patiently wait for more detailed results coming from all of Nexus Gold Corp's summer drilling programs as any further news has the potential to move shares higher.