The French state company Orano, after 53 years of activity in Niger, will end uranium extraction in the African country next Thursday.
For that day he plans to stop working at the last of the mines in which it was active in Nigerien territoryin the midst of a dynamic of tension between the Nigerien military junta and French societies.
Last Wednesday, Orano announced the cessation of uranate production starting October 31 by its subsidiary company Somaïr, which was still active in the Arlit mine, located in the northern region of Agadez, which for the moment has not sparked any official reaction in the African country.
In a press release, Orano justified its decision to stop production of Somaïr due to the difficulties it encounters in exporting its production with the closure of the border with Benin, after the coup d’état that in July 2023 brought a military junta to power in this Sahel country.
The cessation of activity in Arlit also occurs after, last June, The Nigerian Government will withdraw the exploitation permit of Orano on the Imouraren uranium mine, one of the largest in the world for the mineral used to make fuel for nuclear power plants.
Orano exploded a third mineAkouta, but closed in March 2021 due to depletion of its resources.
The Niger military junta that emerged from the coup d’état has turned Niamey’s relations with France, a former colonial power, upside down, and this has had repercussions for companies galas there, first of all Orano, which until then extracted around 10% of its world uranium production from that area.
After the coup d’étatneighboring countries such as Benin closed their border exchanges with Niger, which, according to Orano, prevents exports from the Arlit mine.
“Despite Orano’s efforts to find alternatives to export the uranium produced by Somaïr and reactivate commercial activity, “All the proposals made to the Nigerien authorities remained unanswered.”said the French company in its statement this week.
“The managers of this French multinational do not respect our political authorities, they do whatever they want”Almoustapha Alhacen, who was appointed last July by the Nigerien military junta as president of the Cominak Board of Directors, told EFE, an appointment contested by the members of this board.
Cominak, owned by Orano, exploited the Akouta mine in Arlit until 2021, when it closed. Their factory has been dismantled and what remains now is the burial of radioactive wastewhose volume is estimated in tens of millions of tons.
For Alhacen, Orano no longer has a predominant role in Arlit. “Somaïr can survive without his presence, because even the little care provided in the mining company hospital to the inhabitants of Arlitno longer exists. Workers no longer benefit from it due to lack of medicines,” he criticizes.
Somaïr, which is a company owned 63% by Orano and 37% by the Nigerien Government, began uranium mining in 1971 and reached its peak extraction point in 2012 with a production of 3,065 tons of mineral. Since that year, Orano has extracted a total of 140,000 tons of uranium in Niger.
Alhacen affirms that the population is no longer supplied with drinking water. “Of the 25 million inhabitants of our country, there are only 400 Nigeriens employed in Somaïr and around 800 subcontractors. The government will have buyers to continue the exploitation of the mine,” he says.
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