Coup has led to halt in imports of critical materials for uranium exploitation at Somair
French nuclear giant Orano ended the first half of the year with a loss of €133m (€144m), weighed down by difficulties in its mining activities in Niger due to a “highly degraded” political context since a military regime came to power a year ago.
At the end of June 2024, the group noted “the deteriorated situation affecting mining operations in Niger”, Orano’s chief financial officer, David Claverie, said in a statement.
The coup in Niger on 26 July last year led to a halt in imports of critical materials necessary for uranium exploitation in Orano’s Somair mine, such as soda ash, carbonate, nitrates and sulphur. Orano said Somair is the only uranium mine in operation in Niger.
And although uranium extraction continued in the first quarter of 2024 after several months of early maintenance, Somair’s sales were unable to resume “due to a lack of logistics solutions approved by the Niger authorities”.
The blockage led the mine into “financial difficulty... weighing on its ability to continue its operations”, the statement read.
Orano said its teams have remained committed to finding new supply corridors and ensuring business continuity. This mobilisation enabled the resumption of production at the Somair ore processing plant in the first quarter of 2024 after several months of early maintenance, as well as the continuation of ore extraction at the mine.
However, Somair’s sales were unable to resume due to a lack of logistics solutions approved with the Niger authorities.
“While the security of supply for Orano’s customers remains ensured thanks to the diversity of its supply sources, this blockage is placing Somair in financial difficulty and weighing on its ability to continue its operations,” a statement said.
Seperately, a favourable increase in the price of uranium made it possible for Orano to once again consider a commissioning of the Imouraren deposit in Niger, the statement said.
In early 2024 Orano submitted a concrete technical proposal for the development of Imouraren, but on 20 June 2024, Niger decided to withdraw Imouraren SA’s licence to exploit the deposit.
“Orano’s priority is to protect its rights and establish a dialogue with the State of Niger to continue this project,” the statement said.
Despite its problems in Niger, the Orano group confirmed its outlook for the end of the year, with stable revenues of around €4.8bn.
Earlier this month, Canada-based GoviEx Uranium said Niger had withdrawn its licence for the the Madaouela uranium mine, dealing a major blow to the development of one of the world’s largest uranium projects.
