A Large Shipment Of Uranium Has Disappeared In Niger.
7- 28.12.2025, 18:03
- 6,762
Who's behind this?
Following the disappearance of uranium from Nigeria's Somayer mine, the Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into "organized theft to serve the interests of a foreign power." The military authorities have now strongly denied the charges against them.
The military junta (Military Governing Council) that has ruled Nigeria since the July 2023 coup favors sovereignty over the country's mineral resources, including uranium, writes Euronews.
The Somayer mine (Somayer) was previously operated by the French group Urano. However, a few weeks after its nationalization was announced in June, the Nigerian government announced that it would supply uranium produced by the French company to the international market.
Then, in late November, Urano warned in a press release that a shipment of uranium from the Somayera deposit (previously 63.4% owned by this French mining giant and 36.6% by the Niger government) had been seized and disappeared.
In mid-December, Paris launched an investigation into the disappearance of the strategic raw material, aimed at "serving the interests of a foreign power."
Niger's military regime responded to the Paris investigation on Saturday, December 27, by rejecting the theft allegations against it "in the strongest terms."
Niger's Minister of Mines, Colonel Osman Abarchi, told state media on Saturday evening, "The Republic of Niger rejects any rhetoric in which the exercise of sovereignty over a national resource amounts to theft in the strongest terms.... The idea of selling or stealing is a dangerous, irresponsible and shameful rhetoric ... One cannot steal what is in his rightful possession."
Who was behind this: Iran or Russia?"
Since the military took power in Niger, the country has made no secret of its willingness to seek new partners and has looked toward Iran or Russia. In July, Russia also expressed interest in developing Niger's uranium.
At one time, Evgeny Prigozhin, the now-deceased head of the Wagner mercenary group, also called the military coup in Niger "good news" and suggested that Wagner forces could be used to bring order to Niger.
In December 2024, Urano, which is 90 percent owned by the French government, resigned itself to losing operational control of three mining subsidiaries in Niger. But it still filed several international arbitration cases against the Niger government.
At the end of September, a court ruled in favor of Somayer's mine and ordered Niger not to sell uranium mined by Somayer, whose mine contains nearly 1,300 tons of concentrate with a market value of 250 million euros.
After the verdict, a shipment of uranium belonging to Somayer disappeared.
Earlier, in March 2024, reports of a secret deal between Niger and Iran to supply uranium also surfaced.
At the time, even Ali al-Amin Zein, who had been appointed prime minister of Niger's military government, met with Iran's current president, Ibrahim Raisi, and the Americans believed that details of the agreement were discussed at the meeting. According to the Iranian leader's press office, Raisi "praised the independence and stance" of the people of Niger against "European monarchical policies" and said he was willing to establish economic relations between the countries.
According to 2021 statistics from the Oratum Supply Agency (ESA), Niger supplies 4.7 percent of the world's natural uranium production.
In 2023, Le Monde newspaper also reported that until recently, the African country was the supplier of 20 percent of the uranium used by France.
After the coup in Niger, Europe is increasingly turning to Australia, China and Kazakhstan to acquire uranium.
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