The context: The uranium mines of Arlit (Niger)

The uranium mines that have been the object of A. Chamaret’s empirical work are located at Arlit, in the desert region of Aïr in northern Niger.  Two companies are exploiting the mines — the Société des Mines de l'Aïr (SOMAÏR) for the open-pit mine and the Compagnie des Mines d'Akokan (COMINAK) for the underground mine — whose majority shareholders are the French company AREVA and the Nigerian state (ONAREM).

Initiated in the 1970‘s, the mining activity has contributed to national development programs in Niger, notably during the 1980‘s when uranium prices were high.  But, whereas today Niger is the fourth largest uranium producer in the world with 12% of global production, it is nonetheless rated as one of the poorest performers in terms of the Human Development Index.

The objective of A Chamaret’s study in Niger was to evaluate uranium mining‘s contributions to and impacts on the region and the country, with indicators that fit the stakeholders‘ needs and interests.  As shown in Figure 1, her approach consists of four steps, enriched by both top-down and bottom-up elements.  The following grains provide more details about the work undertaken on site.