Turkish Ministers Visit Niger To Secure Uranium Supplies For Nuclear Plant

On Wednesday, Turkey’s foreign, defence, and energy ministers visited Niger, the world’s biggest Uranium producer, in a bid to secure access to the West African nation’s rich uranium deposits for its nuclear power plant and other facilities.

According to a Bloomberg report, the delegation, led by foreign minister Hakan Fidan alongside the country’s top spy chief, director of the National Intelligence Organisation, Ibrahim Kalin, wants to tap into the Nigerien uranium supplies to fuel its nuclear-powered industry.

The trip comes after Niger’s military government under Abdourahamane Tchiani revoked the mining rights from Canada‘s GoviEx and Orano, a French-owned company, leading to a discontinuation of uranium exploitation.

With Niger’s deposits of about 5 per cent (311,100 tonnes) of the world’s uranium resources, Turkey wants to have a part of it supplied to fuel its uncompleted Akkuyu nuclear reactor. The Akkuyu plant is expected to generate about 10 per cent of the country’s electricity when completed.

The Turkish visit comes as Russia is also trying to acquire the once-held French uranium asset, using its state-owned Rosatom, which helps Turkey build its uncompleted Akkuyu reactor, to secure a deal with Niger’s military government.

Meanwhile, previous foreign-owned companies, including Canada’s GoviEx and French-owned Orano, whose mining permits were revoked, have been conditioned to complete the Madaouela and Imarouren uranium mine project by the Nigerien government, as mandated in the country’s mining code.

Read more: Burkina Faso to Revoke Mining Permits from Companies Refusing to Sell Equipment.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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