The President of the Republic of Niger, Mr. Mohamed Bozoum met on Tuesday with a Chinese delegation led by Mr. Xing Yongguo, president of the National Uranium Company of China, CNUC. The hearing took place in the presence of the Minister of Mines.
CNUC, a subsidiary of China National Nuclear Corporation is the majority shareholder of SOMINA, a Joint Venture set up to produce uranium from the Azelik Mine in the Tim Mersoi Basin. SOMINA is currently owned 37% by CNUC, 25% by the Government of Niger, 25% by Chinese investment management company ZXJOY Invest, and 5% by Korea Resources Corporation.
The topic of the conversation was focused on the feasibility of CNUC to take back control of the Joint Venture.
CNUC has already deployed a technical team to the Azelik mine site, to conduct a feasibility study with the view of very quickly restarting production at the mine, according to the minister of Mines.
The minister of mines concluded: “Uranium prices are now favourable internationally, and it's up to us to better develop this sector with all partners, including the CNUC, who already have operating permits.
The Azelik deposit was the first uranium discovery in Niger, discovered by the French in 1957. The mine first came into production by the Chinese in 2010, intending to ramp up production to 6.5 Million pounds of uranium per year by 2015, and double that by 2020. It is an open pit and underground operation using alkaline leach, with resources of 40 Million pounds at average grades of 0.2% U3O8.
CNNC said in August 2014 that Azelik has experienced prolonged project delays, overruns in its construction budget, and low production. In February 2015 CNNC announced that the mine would be closed and put on care and maintenance due to “tight cash flow".