Will need to keep an eye on this matter as it may be positive or negative for Northwestern depending on the written law:
REUTERS New law to give Niger stakes in mining,oil firms
NAIMEY, July 1 (Reuters) - Niger has adopted new mining and
oil exploration laws that will give the government a stake in
companies operating in the uranium-rich country and scrap tax
breaks aimed at attracting investors.
The drought-prone former French colony adopted laws late on
Friday aimed at maximising government profits from its mines and
potential oil reserves amid rising demand for uranium and
soaring crude prices.
Niger is one of the world's top uranium producers and has
proven oil reserves of 300 million barrels but it has not found
a commercially viable way of getting the crude to the Gulf of
Guinea or the Mediterranean for export.
Under the new laws, the government will take a stake in
mining and oil exploration companies operating in semi-desert
Niger, although it did not specify how large the stake would be.
Mining rights will also be reduced to 10 years from 20 years
and exploration rights cut to 20 years from 30 years on a
reduced geographical area. Extra tax will be levied and in
certain cases, tax breaks initially aimed at attracting
investors will be cut or scrapped.
Uranium production in landlocked Niger peaked at 4,366
tonnes in 1981 but has since fallen as world market prices
slumped and now stands at around 3,000 tonnes a year.
Of that 2,000 tonnes is produced by the Compagnie Miniere
d'Akouta (COMINAK), owned by the government with French,
Japanese and Spanish interests, and the remainder by the
French-controlled Societe des Mines et de l'Air (SOMAIR), which
has announced plans to open a second mining operations.
Niger also awarded two uranium prospecting concessions to
Toronto-based Northwestern Mineral Ventures Inc <NWT.V> and one
to North Atlantic Resources <NAC.TO> earlier this year.
The government also introduced new laws that will give it a
stake in oil exploration firms. Under the new laws, permits
covering research and exploration and the transport of oil by
pipeline would be limited and taxes raised.
Wedged between oil producers Algeria and Nigeria,
impoverished Niger wants to find more oil to make export
commercially viable.
Algeria's state energy company Sonatrach signed a deal last
year with Niger to search for oil. Malaysia's Petronas has also
been exploring a concession near the border with Chad as part of
a joint venture with U.S. industry giant Exxon Mobil Corp
<XOM.N>.
State giant China National Petroleum Corp has two vast
concessions and Nigeria and Algeria are looking to build a gas
pipeline joining their countries and passing through Niger.
Reporting by Abdoulaye Massalaki; Dakar newsroom +221 864
5076; editing by David Christian-Edwards))
Keywords: MINERALS NIGER
