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The Paris public prosecutor’s office has announced the opening of a judicial investigation into the disappearance of a uranium shipment from a site in northern Niger operated by the French group Orano.
The investigation focuses on suspicions of an “organized theft for the benefit of a foreign power,” amid escalating tensions between Niger’s ruling military authorities and the French company over control of nuclear resources. The dispute dates back to the aftermath of the July 2023 military coup, which ushered in an open confrontation over uranium mining operations.
In June 2024, Niger’s military authorities nationalized Somair, an Orano subsidiary that operated the Arlit mine in northern Niger. In November, Orano warned that a uranium shipment had left the Arlit site, where around 1,300 tons of the mineral had been stored.
The company cited a ruling by a French court in September, which held that the Nigerien state had no right to sell or transfer uranium produced by Somair, in which Orano held a 63.4% stake prior to nationalization.
Orano said it does not know how much uranium was moved, where it was sent, or who the potential buyers might be, noting that the stockpile in question dates back to its period of management and is estimated at around 1,600 tons of uranium concentrates, with a market value of approximately $310 million.
Niger is the world’s seventh-largest producer of uranium, a key component in nuclear fuel and medical applications, particularly cancer treatment.
France relies heavily on nuclear power, which supplies around 70% of its electricity, and prior to the recent crisis imported about 15% of its uranium from Niger.