The Imouraren mine is a large mine located in the northern part of

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

Agadez Region Agadez Region is one of the seven regions of Niger. At , it covers more than half of Niger's land area, and is the largest region in the country, as well as the list of the largest country subdivisions by area, largest African state subdivision. ...

, about south of

Arlit Arlit is an industrial town and capital of the Arlit Department of the Agadez Region of northern-central Niger, built between the Sahara Desert and the eastern edge of the Aïr Mountains. It is 200 kilometers south by road from the bord ...

. Imouraren represents one of the largest

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

reserves in

having estimated reserves of 109.1 million tonnes of ore grading 0.06%

. It is the site of a uranium mining project involving French company

Areva Areva S.A. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...

and SOPaMin (Société du Patrimoine des Mines du Niger on behalf of the

government of Niger The government of Niger is the apparatus through which authority functions and is exercised: the governing apparatus of Nigerien state. The current system of governance, since the Constitution of 25 November 2010, is termed the Constitution of N ...

). The U3O8 ore grade at nearby SOMAIR is 14,000 tons at 0.3%,

COMINAK COMINAK (Compagnie minière d'Akokan) is a national uranium mining company of Niger. It is a joint venture between the French company Areva NC and the state of Niger, which operates in the field of mining. COMINAK was established in 1974, follow ...

is 29,000 t at 0.4% and Imouraren 120,000t at 0.15%. In 2009 an operating permit was issued and excavations began in 2012. However the project was suspended in 2015 due to low uranium prices in the wake of the

Fukushima nuclear disaster The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which ...

. In early 2023, French nuclear fuel cycle company

Orano Orano SA is a French multinational corporation, multinational nuclear fuel cycle corporation headquartered in Châtillon, Hauts-de-Seine. The company is engaged in uranium mining, conversion-enrichment, Nuclear reprocessing, spent fuel recycling ...

started exploring the option of opening the mine using the

in-situ recovery In-situ leaching (ISL), also called in-situ recovery (ISR) or solution mining, is a mining process used to recover minerals such as copper and uranium through boreholes drilled into a deposit, '' in situ''. In-situ leach works by artificially d ...

(ISR) method of extraction, which uses a leaching solution pumped through boreholes drilled into the deposit. There are concerns this and other mines are a danger to the area's water supply.

References

External links

Orano envisages controversial cost-cutting measures at Imouraren
Africa Intelligence, February 3, 2023 (requires free registration) Uranium mines in Niger {{Niger-stub