"Niger’s Justice Minister Alio Daouda rejected accusations by French nuclear group Orano over the alleged unauthorised removal of uranium from the Somair mine in the country's north, noting that the stockpile at the centre of the dispute was “extracted by the creative genius of the Niger people.” This comes after Orano alleged that around 1,600 tonnes of uranium concentrate, valued at roughly $310 million, was removed from the Arlit site without authorisation, after Niger's military government took control of the mine in June 2024. Speaking alongside Niger’s Minister of Mines, Colonel Ousmane Abarchi on Saturday, Daouda said the stockpile removed was produced using Nigerien investment and labour, and reported that just 156 tonnes had been mined between the incumbent government's accession to power on July 26, 2023 and its nationalization of the mine almost a year later, the production volume for which the French company would be due a share of revenue. “Today, it's not 1,000 tonnes, it's around 2,000 tonnes that was extracted from the subsoil through the sweat and toil of Somair's workers. This has been made possible thanks to major investments by the State of Niger,” he added. “They are the ones who have assumed responsibility for its operation, and it is the State of Niger that has financed it." He said Orano now finds itself '58 billion in debt' to the country after years of under-declaring uranium content to secure 'undue profits'. He reported that Orano had assumed 86.3% of revenues between 1971 and 2024, while the Nigerien state received just 9.2 percent, despite holding a 36.6 percent stake in Somair. "This structural discrepancy <...> has never been corrected, resulting in a cumulative loss of earnings and a lasting under-valuation of public shareholding,” added Abarchi. He noted that the Arlit concession, first granted in 1968, did not confer ownership of Niger’s subsoil, which remains the sovereign property of the state. He stressed that the concession represents a conditional right to operate, subject to compliance with Niger’s mining laws. He stated that Orano has failed to pay 'surface royalties' introduced under the amended mining code in 2024, despite receiving a formal payment notice, adding that under Nigerien law the refusal to settle tax dues can lead to the withdrawal of mining titles. “Orano Mining has not complied with the grievances set out in the formal notice to comply with the provisions of the mining law and regulations. The process of withdrawing the Arlit concession is therefore proceeding in accordance with the mining law,” he concluded. The dispute comes amid deteriorating relations between Niger’s military government and France following its rise to power in July 2023, and reflects broader tensions over control of strategic natural resources. The Paris prosecutor’s office has confirmed it is investigating allegations of organised gang theft ‘in the interests of a foreign power’ linked to the missing uranium. In September, a French court ruled that Niger had no right to sell or transfer uranium produced by Somair prior to nationalisation."