This paper investigates how the gold boom occurred since 2007 has affected socioeconomic outcomes in Burkina Faso. A reduced theoretical model was developed to show the expected impacts, and that were validated by the empirical analysis. Results suggest that areas hosting a gold extraction have better average living standards in terms of headcount ratios, poverty gaps and household expenditures than their counterparts without gold. How ever, this can increase inequality and child labor. It therefore raises the growing need of the governmental interventions to reverse such negative impacts.