Bougouni Region

Bougouni Region is an administrative region in southern Mali, formed from parts of the former Sikasso Region and smaller areas of Koulikoro Region. Its capital is the city of Bougouni, and it borders Guinea and Ivory Coast to the south. It covers 36,670 square kilometres and lies largely in the Sahel-Sudanic climate zone, with savannas, farmland and river valleys; part of it drains to the Niger River through the Sankarani River, where the Selingue reservoir stands. A separate region had been envisaged by the administrative reform of 2012, and Law No. 2023-006 of 13 March 2023 confirmed the new structure. The region has ten cercles and had 1,549,567 residents in 2023, mostly Muslim. Its economy rests on agriculture, with cereals, cotton, maize and peanuts, and on lithium mining at the Goulamina project and near Bougouni.