- China signs deal to reopen closed uranium mining site in crisis-hit Niger.
- Niger further agrees to give Chinese Company an oil pipeline deal.
- China to build an industrial park for manufacturing, real estate, mining.
China has signed a deal with troubled West African nation of Niger for the reopening of a controversial uranium mining site. Before China, there was France, and now the question is, will Chinese leave Niger in a better condition than the Frenchmen?
China is actually looking to score a broad-based investment deal that will include the construction of an industrial park, and an oil pipeline among other investments. The industrial park is also to be the site for the development of the uranium mine in question or maybe a site for enrichment, the details of the deal are not yet clear.
Niger China uranium mining
Jiang Feng, the Chinese ambassador to Niger, made the revelations recently. He said construction of the industrial park will significantly impact other industries in Niger. This bodes well with Niger officials who are looking to industrialize the West African country.
The industrial park will cover a wide range of industries including agro-food processing, some manufacturing, mining and even real estate. This development comes in the wake of the April 2023 China-Niger Investment Forum.
Along with the industrial park deal, there will be the China-Niger oil pipeline pact. China’s National Petroleum Corporation is going to be the developer of a 2,000-plus-kilometer oil pipeline that will help Niger revamp its crude oil production.
Previously, uranium mining in Niger caused controversy between the country and former investor, France.
Already a delegation from the National Uranium Company of China (CNUC) has met with officials in Niger and discussed possible resumption of exploration and mining of the mineral.
The parties talked about “resumption”, because uranium mining in Niger’s northern regions has been abandoned for almost a decade. Officials say “the project was abandoned because of poor sales of the commodity in international markets.”
However, “prices [of uranium] are now favorable internationally. It is for us to better develop this sector with all the partners, including the CNUC, who already have operating permits,” local media quoted Niger’s Minister of Mines Ousseini Hadizatou Yacouba.
Niger fifth-largest uranium producer
The claims that global uranium prices were bad at some point is ironic because Niger is the world’s fifth-largest uranium producer. In 2021 alone, Niger exported to the European Union nearly 25 percent of all its uranium production.
A further look into the matter reveals something interesting. Media reports have it that allegations of radiation spills led to the abandonment of the site. And authorities have been blaming the previous investor, France, for the mess.
“Niger’s northern town of Arlit has been left wallowing in 20 million tonnes of radioactive waste after a uranium mine run by French company Orano (formerly Areva) closed down,” reads the opening line of a news report: French Uranium Mine Leaves 20 Million Tonnes of Radioactive Waste in Niger.
The article was published in January of this year by a Radio France Internationale (RFI). In the article alleges that “people living in the area are exposed to levels of radiation above the limits recommended by health experts.”
The French nuclear company Orano, which was previously known Areva, has been mining the cite since 1970s. Media reports say “47 years later, in March 2021, the Cominak mines near the northern town of Arlit closed down.”
According to the French-based Independent Research and Information Commission on Radioactivity (CRIIRAD), “the closure left the local population to live with 20 million tonnes of radioactive mud on the mine’s site.”
The report goes on to point out that the subsequent research findings, which were released in 2009, “showed that the level of radioactivity was 450,000 Becquerels per kilo, well above the internationally recommended levels of radiation.”
Waste producing radioactive gas Radon
In his explanation Bruno Chareyron, a CRIIRAD’s scientist said; “The waste produces a radioactive gas known as radon. The strong wind of the desert spreads radioactive dust which is then inhaled by the surrounding population.”
The scientist says the soil and underground water is contaminated and as a result, well over 100,000 people, who live in the area, are at risk of the radiation.
The global environmentalist organization Greenpeace seconds the report that warns of dangerous radiation levels in Niger. It cautions that “exposure to such dangerously high levels of radiation can lead to birth defects, cancer, and a number of other disorders.”
According to Greenpeace, many former Cominak workers are now suffering from “unexplained diseases affecting the skin, liver, kidneys, and lungs.”
“Our heritage is an enduring pollution,” Al Moustapha Al Hacen, founder of the local environment protection NGO Aghir in’Man, said. “There is no wildlife left, nor any plants alive around Arlit.”
“The waste will be radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years. Orano should have sealed it off on a secure site, but this was not done,” he laments.
Cominak is offering to “cover the radioactive mud with a two-meter layer of clay and rocks to contain the radiation.” While this sounds like an admission of guilt, two questions come up. First, will France be held accountable, and second how will China be different?
The activists want to know whether “this two-meter layer of clay and rocks will be strong enough to isolate the radiation for thousands of years?”
Also Read: African Development Bank fund Niger’s climate change
Niger-China uranium mining deal
In June, the president of CNUC Xing Yongguo signed the deal signaling resumption of uranium mining at Arlit, Agadez region.
Unlike the worried activists, officials of nearby towns seem happy with the deal. “It is great that they are back at work. We have been waiting for them to return. This will generate jobs for our people. It will help the economy,” mayor of Ingall town, Ahmed Mousa, says.
On his part, however, Iliyasou Aboubakar, a member of ROTAB, a nongovernmental organization fighting for environment conservation regrets the move. “This project has the potential to adversely affect humans, animals, and plants. Authorities must make sure measures are taken to safeguard the health of the environment. This project should be stopped from moving forward.”
