Niamey, Niger — Niger's military junta is disputing a decision by French nuclear fuel firm Orano to halt uranium production, according to a document from a state partner in the venture seen Friday by Agence France-Presse.
Orano announced last month that it was stopping production as of Thursday, owing to what it termed increasingly difficult operating conditions in the country and financial issues.
Nigerien state company Sopamin is a shareholder with Orano, which holds a majority stake in Somair, the last site that the French group was still operating in the country prior to Thursday.
The French lamented the withdrawal by the junta in June of a permit for one of the largest uranium deposits in the world, Imouraren, and the impossibility of exporting the raw material with Niger's border with Benin closed for what Niamey says are security reasons.
"Despite its status as a co-shareholder, Sopamin was not consulted on this serious decision" to halt production, the company, which has operated for half a century in the country's north, said in a document dated Thursday.
The Nigerien firm complained that the decision "lacks transparency" and "violates a number of principles and practices essential to governance and commitments between stakeholders."
Orano said it had proposed an alternative to the Nigerien authorities, namely exporting the uranium to France or Namibia, and expressed regret that there was no reaction to the suggestion.
Niger states in the document seen Friday a wish to "purchase 210 tons of uranium through the natural channel of Sopamin," which it said would "allow Somair to continue its activities."
Currently, 1,050 tons of uranium concentrate from stocks from 2023 and 2024, or around half of the site's average annual production worth an estimated 300 million euros ($360 million), are currently blocked, Orano estimates.
The ruling junta, which took power last year in a July coup, says it will revamp rules regulating the mining of raw materials by foreign companies in what is the world's seventh-largest uranium producer.
It has also downgraded links with former colonial power France and strengthened ties with new partners including Russia and Iran.
In September, Niger's Council of Ministers adopted a draft decree creating a state entity, "Timersoi National Uranium Company," abbreviated to TNUC.
