2023-05-05 16:38:56
Present for a long time in Niger, the Orano group, ex-Areva, is resigning for almost twenty years. The French mining company and the Nigerien government signed a “comprehensive partnership agreement” on May 4, which provides for the extension of the activity of Somaïr, the group’s only uranium mine still in operation in northern Niger, until ‘in 2040.
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Discussions with Orano made it possible to “see how operations could last as long as possible with new permits, new means of reducing costs, and seeing how the duration life of the mine could be extended”, explained Ousseini Hadizatou Yacouba, the Nigerien Minister of Mines, during the signing of the agreement with Nicolas Maes, the CEO of Orano Mining.
Report of Imouraren
“This agreement materializes the dual industrial and societal commitment of Orano in Niger, in compliance with national regulations”, declared Nicolas Maes. “We are mutually committed to working together to allow Somaïr to last, to exploit the full potential of the deposits, and to make this mine last for as many years as possible”, he continued.
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At the start of the discussions, the horizon mentioned was the year 2029. The date of 2040 should allow the mine to be exploited until it is exhausted.
On the other hand, the two parties have decided to postpone the start of exploitation of Imouraren, one of the largest uranium deposits in the world, also in northern Niger, whose reserves have been estimated at around 200,000 tonnes. . Its exploitation should have started in 2015, but the fall in uranium prices on the world market, after the nuclear disaster of Fukushima in Japan in 2011, froze it.
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According to Nicholas Maes, the agreement that has just been signed has “reconfigured” the Imouraren project in order “to find an economic balance, while significantly reducing its environmental footprint”.
New feasibility study
“According to the mining law, we generally give ourselves a ten-year horizon [pour exploiter]. This is the maximum period to look and see how we can exploit what we have in Imouraren. It could be ten years, or it could be less”, indicated the Minister, adding that Imouraren is now “a company that will resume research to build a new feasibility study”.
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In March, Matthieu Davrinche, the director of Imouraren SA, told AFP that the decision to exploit this mine would be taken in 2028, after tests which should begin next year. Orano has also undertaken to inject 26 billion CFA francs (around 39 million euros) into “priority” sectors in Niger, including education.
Orano has been operating two mines in northern Niger for fifty years, Somaïr (Aïr mining company) and Akouta mining company (Cominak), the latter having closed in 2021.
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