Niger revokes French company’s operating permit at major uranium mine

By DALATOU MAMANE and MONIKA PRONCZUK
Associated Press

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Nigerien military authorities have withdrawn the operating permit for a large uranium mine from the French company Orano. The company said the decision was made Thursday, nearly a year after the junta overthrew a democratically elected government on a pledge to cut ties with its former colonial power. Niger, a landlocked country of 26 million, is the world’s third biggest supplier of uranium, used for weapons and nuclear power. In 2022, the country was the second biggest source of uranium for the European Union, providing a quarter of its supplies, according to the bloc’s nuclear agency.