Niger junta invites Russian firms to exploit its resources amid dispute with French nuclear group

Niger’s military junta has invited Russian firms to invest in the country’s uranium and other natural resource production after French nuclear group Orano halted uranium output there last month, part of an ongoing dispute between Niamey and its former colonial master, France.
“We have already met with Russian companies that are interested in coming to explore and exploit Niger’s natural resources… not only uranium,” Niger’s minister of mines, Usman Abarchi, said. It comes as Niger’s junta-led government is disputing Orano’s decision to halt uranium production on 31 October, owing to what the French nuclear firm described as “highly deteriorated” situation and increasingly difficult operating conditions under military junta in the country and financial issues. Orano, which holds a majority stake in Somair, the last site that the French group was still operating in the country prior to 31 October, had earlier lamented the withdrawal by the junta in June of a permit for one of the largest uranium deposits in the world, Imouraren.
Niger’s junta, which seized power in a July 2023 coup, had previously made clear it would revamp rules regulating the mining of raw materials by foreign companies. Nigerian authorities are unlikely to allow French companies to continue mining uranium on their territory owing to the fact that Paris has not recognized the new leadership of the state, according to Usman Abarchi. “The French state, through its head, stated that it does not recognize the current authorities of Niger. More than a year has passed, this has not changed. Do you think it is possible for us … to allow French companies to continue mining our natural resources?”, Abarchi said.