Uranium Mining and Exploration

[Berliner]

One of world's biggest uranium mining nations
to double output in next four years

http://www.mineweb.net/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page38?oid=23542&sn=Detail

Niger is hoping to double its uranium output over the next four years as two new uranium mines, Imouraren and Teguida, come on line.
Author: Nick Tattersall
Posted: Tuesday , 17 Jul 2007

NIAMEY (Reuters) -

Niger, one of the world's leading producers of uranium, aims to more than double its output within the next four years as two new Chinese- and French-run mines come on line, a senior mining official said.

The impoverished former French colony on the edge of the Sahara, which already ranks among the top five or six suppliers, mined around 3,500 tonnes of uranium in 2006, Secretary General of the Mines Ministry Abdoul Razack Amadou told Reuters.

Amadou said Niger expected to produce about the same amount this year, but added output would leap once the new Imouraren and Teguida mines in the desert northeast came on line in three or four years.

"It will be more than double," he said in an interview late on Monday in his Niamey office, a 1970s towerblock built during the last uranium boom.

"For Imouraren, we expect in around 2011 to be producing 3,000-to-4,000 tonnes per year. At Teguida in 2010, one year earlier, we are aiming for 700 tonnes a year," he said.

French nuclear energy giant Areva , the main stakeholder in the two currently active mines in the Agadez desert region, holds the rights for the Imouraren deposit. China Nuclear International Uranium Corp. (Sino-U) is developing Teguida.

Niger hopes the new mines will help it cash in on booming world demand for uranium, used as a nuclear fuel in power stations and atomic submarines as well for construction in the aviation sector. But it is not the only party hoping to benefit.

The vast desert north, where most of Niger's uranium deposits are located, is notoriously insecure and awash with arms left over from a 1990s rebellion by light-skinned Tuareg nomads against a black-dominated government.

Most of the rebel groups accepted peace deals in 1995 but resentment remains high.

A Tuareg-led group called the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) has raided military and mining targets in the north since February, partly to demand a greater stake in the region's natural wealth.

It kidnapped a Sino-U executive this month, later releasing him unharmed to the Red Cross, and was also blamed for an attack on a mine operated by Areva in April.

URANIUM RUSH

After several decades of lower interest in uranium mining, spot prices have surged to $130 per pound this week up from $7 in 2000, prompting international miners to look further afield in riskier areas to find new reserves.

Amadou said the Niger government had granted some 60 uranium exploration permits to around 20 Canadian, British, Indian and other foreign firms, mostly in the northern region of Agadez, each for areas of around 500 square km.

A further 120 permits, mostly for uranium but also for other minerals, have still to be awarded.

Although mining firms themselves appeared not to be put off so far by the insecurity caused by the MNJ attacks, some of their suppliers were more jittery, Amadou said.

"It is a big threat (to the industry). ... It's a normal human reaction that in a situation like that no one feels at ease getting on with their business," he said.

The government refuses to negotiate with the MNJ, dismissing them as bandits and drug traffickers. The rebel group has killed 33 soldiers since launching its military campaign and is holding dozens more hostage.

President Mamadou Tandja has called on neighbouring states around the Sahara to tighten security and cut off the group's fuel, food and ammunition supplies. The government has said it will intensify military action if the MNJ fails to disarm.

With demand for uranium so strong, particularly as concerns about global warming increase the appeal of nuclear power, Niger's government is aware it cannot afford to let the instability in the north drag on.

Its current uranium output is around 7.5 percent of world production and it is already the third largest supplier to the European Union after Russia and Canada. As China and India industrialise more, appetite for the mineral is likely to grow.