French nuclear materials company Orano has condemned what it called and “illegal” shipment of uranium that had been stored at the Somair mining site in Niger.

The company said in a statement it had learned from media reports that a shipment of uranium had left the site in Arlit, northern Niger.

Orano said it is “not the initiator of this shipment and strongly condemns it”.

Orano lost operational control of its Niger mines in December 2024 and has no official information on the quantity of uranium transported, its final destination, or the conditions under which the transport was undertaken in terms of safety and security.