28/05/2026
On May 18 2026 Niger’s Cabinet approved a decree cancelling the Arlit mining concession — a title originally granted in 1968 to France’s Atomic Energy Commission — declaring the land now free of all rights and returning it fully to the Nigerien people.
The concession covered 360 square kilometres and had been granted for 75 years. France’s nuclear giant Orano — formerly Areva — operated it for over half a century extracting uranium that powered French homes, French hospitals, and French industry while the communities around Arlit remained without reliable electricity.
Niger did not just cancel the contract. It replaced it entirely.
Niger’s Cabinet simultaneously created a new state owned company called Teloua Safeguarding Uranium Mining Company — TSUMCO — to take over all uranium operations on Nigerien soil. Nigerien uranium will now be extracted by Nigerien hands for Nigerien benefit.
And France is not getting away clean either.
Orano still faces outstanding tax obligations and environmental accountability for what Niger describes as dramatic impacts on soil, water resources, and biodiversity around the Arlit mining zone — damage accumulated over five decades of extraction that enriched France and poisoned Nigerien land.
France had already lost Niger as a uranium supplier after the 2023 coup. This week Niger made that separation permanent, legal, and irreversible.
For 58 years Niger’s uranium kept European lights on while Nigeriens sat in the dark. The contract is cancelled. The company is gone. The land belongs to the people it was always supposed to belong to. 🌍🔥
France built 56 nuclear reactors on African uranium. How many schools did it build in Niger?
