What this organisation is
SOMAÏR operates the Arlit mine in northern Niger, the asset at the centre of the state's dispute with its French operator. Niger is the world's fourth-largest uranium producer, around 6.9 per cent of global output. The French company Orano halted output at Arlit in October 2024 amid financial strain; the mine passed to Nigerien operational control in December 2024; and in June 2025 the government announced nationalisation, stating that Orano had taken 86.3 per cent of production between 1971 and 2024 — the state's own figure. An ICSID tribunal has ordered Niger not to sell or transfer the stockpiled uranium pending Orano's claims; Niger has announced on state television that it intends to sell it anyway, asserting a legitimate right to dispose of national resources, and Orano has condemned a reported shipment as illegal. The dispute is unresolved and is being conducted in public.
The organisation through which the state's claim on its resources is being tested against an international tribunal, with the stockpile as the object.
Confiance : modérée Au 2026-08Revu le 2026-10-03
Official name: Société des Mines de l'Aïr
Published facilities
Each is a marker the module already publishes; the relationship is this record’s own claim, with its own grade and source.
- ArlitZone d’extraction · région étendue
Under Nigerien operational control since December 2024; nationalisation announced June 2025.
Every claim on this record is an announcement or a target. Nothing here is recorded as commissioned or delivered.
The state's stated intention, on state television, to sell the stockpiled uranium notwithstanding the ICSID order not to.
Nationalisation of SOMAÏR announced by the government in June 2025.
Systems it belongs to
Owners, controllers and arrangements
Ce qui reste inconnu
- Whether any uranium has in fact been sold or shipped is contested between the parties and is not established by the module.
- Output since the October 2024 halt is not published in a form the module has read.
Évalué au — 2026-08 Dernière revue — 2026-10-03