One of the largest underground uranium mines in the world is closing its doors. Akouta Mining Company (Cominak), a subsidiary of Orano Cycle (French multinational, formerly Areva), which has been using uranium deposits in the province of Agadez in northern Niger since 1978, will stop production on Wednesday 31 March. A closure carried out under unsatisfactory conditions for non-governmental organizations which, in addition to the social costs, condemn a heavy legacy that will have health and environmental consequences.
Uranium is the fuel for nuclear power plants. Because fission of uranium produces a very large amount of energy that makes it possible to power the turbogenerators of nuclear power plants and therefore produce electricity. An ore that is highly sought after by countries that have installed nuclear power plants and especially by France which has a large nuclear power fleet with 56 reactors in operation. However, Niger has significant deposits of uranium, which is the country’s most important mineral wealth. But this sector, which represented 60% of export earnings in 2010, is now in difficulty. The mines would be less profitable since the fall in uranium prices following the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Akouta Mining Company (Cominak), which was hitherto the second largest uranium mine in Niger, was closed.
Uranium mining in Niger
It is in the province of Agadez in the north of the country that uranium mining in Niger developed in areas where the Tuareg population lived. An industrial history that will give rise to the creation of several mining sites in the middle of the desert and the creation of a city, “Arlit”, to house the workers. The mining town now has more than 100,000 inhabitants.
Originally the first uranium mine still in operation, created in 1968, was the Arlit mining group, operated by the Aïr mining company (Somaïr), which was originally owned 69% by the French company Areva (now Orano Cycle) and 31% by National Office of Mining Resources of Niger. In 1974, south of Arlit, one of the largest underground uranium mines in the world was created, with an ore processing plant, Akouta Mining Company (Cominak) whose shareholder is Orano Cycle. (34% – French), SOPAMIN (31% – Nigeria), OURD (25% – Japanese), Enusa (10% – Spanish). Cominak decided a year ago to discontinue its operations today with reference to the depletion of the website.
This mining history is therefore strongly linked to France’s high demand for uranium to supply its nuclear fleet, which has made Niger its main source of supply but has since diversified by importing uranium from Canada and Kazakhstan and Mongolia, while continuing to explore new places around the world. This quest for new deposits also applies to Niger, where it may be a matter of restarting the huge Imouraren deposit, whose production was frozen in 2014 and which would be used by Imouraren SA, also a subsidiary of Orano Cycle. . A plant which, according to Areva, could have produced 5,000 tonnes of uranium metal per year for 35 years and which would have made Niger the second largest uranium producer in the world.
In 2007, following a collapse in uranium prices, Areva lost its monopoly position and the Nigerian government received license applications from North American, Australian, Asian and South African companies. In 2008, 139 exploration and development permits will be sold in less than a year. In this context, another deposit was created in 2007, the Azélik mine, operated by Somina, a joint venture between Nigeria and China Nuclear International Uranium Corporation, a subsidiary of CNNC (the Chinese national nuclear power company). A new Canadian opening project was recently opened in the region, but only mines operated by Somaïr and Somina are now in the production phase.
One of the largest underground uranium mines in the world
The Cominak mine, created in 1974 and commissioned in 1978, will have produced 75,000 tonnes of uranium by 2021. That is more than a third of Niger’s average production, which is 3,000 tonnes per year, divided into 1,100 tonnes. For Cominak and 1900 tonnes for Somaïren. Orano’s total production during the year was approximately 7,300 tonnes. Unlike Somaïr, which is outdoors, the Cominak mine was one of the largest underground uranium mines in the world with more than 200 km of galleries exploited at a depth of 250 meters where 600 employees and 700 subcontractors worked. But the decision was made to finally end this operation because, like Gilles Recoche, Orano’s director of engagement, responsibility and communications, “the operation ends because the resources are clearly depleted. Of course, there is still uranium in the ground, but it must still be exploitable, profitable and able to pay people … We started thinking about rebuilding the site in 2002. After that, a decision was made unanimously by the Board of Directors in 2019 and the closure was validated on October 15, 2020. “
The mine made its final launch on March 25 and will cease operations on March 31, but Cominak will continue to exist for at least fifteen years to manage the dismantling and safety of the site in accordance with commitments made with the Nigerian authorities and international standards. required for this type of activity, Gilles Recoche specifies: “now we will enter the renovation phase of the site which will last for ten years which will be followed for at least five years by environmental monitoring of this work. This is an important phase for us, dealing with the closure and rebuilding of a mine today is important to us. ”
Arlit is in mourning!
On the streets of Arlit, the announcement of the closure of the operation is a shock to a large part of the population, especially since Cominak, which has taken great care of its 600 employees, refuses to pay compensation and long-term medical follow-up to the 700 subcontractors who also worked in the mine. . For Almoustapha Alhacen, president of NGO AGHIRIN’MAN, the cessation of Cominak’s operations is a disaster. “Arlit is in mourning. For us, this closure cannot be explained. To say that it is the end of the deposit is false: there is no study to prove it and we have the problem with these 700 workers. [sous-traitants] who have worked under the same conditions, who have been exposed to the same radiation risks as their colleagues for at least 20 years and who do not receive a redundancy bonus. For us, there is nothing to justify closing this mine, the workforce is there and they want to work. We need energy and uranium is there. On average with us each have two wives and eight children and to put this world without resources without giving it time to prepare for its future, that is negligence and irresponsibility. We can not act solely on the basis of money, that is what we condemn and note with humor and dismay that “Cominak organized a party with a barbecue and a ribbon clip for the closing. You can only see it in Arlit. We may wonder if this is not an effect of radioactivity … ”
The radioactive threat
Because behind the social issue, there is the health and environmental threat of radioactivity. Uranium is a radioactive metal that has a physical half-life of 4.5 billion years, ie its radioactivity is only halved after 4.5 billion years. So its lifespan is too long and the radioactive products associated with uranium are for some very radiotoxic by inhalation and others by ingestion. When uranium is extracted, however, about twenty different radioactive products are carried to the surface which then end up in the air, in water, in the food chain, in the soil and which will create a very long-lasting pollution. .
For Bruno Chareyron, head of the Criirad Laboratory (Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity), uranium and some of its radioactive descendants emit radiation called gamma radiation, which is extremely powerful invisible radiation that can pass through lead and walls. Therefore, uranium miners are constantly exposed to this radiation, which you can not protect yourself, because even lead clothing would not stop this radiation. So if these materials are widely used to make tracks and roads or even worse in houses [comme cela fut révélé à Arlit par des ONG il y a plusieurs années, NDLR], it means that the inhabitants of these places will be exposed to these invisible rays. “
This risk of contamination particularly affects staff, as Bruno Chareyron comments. “Surveillance of French uranium workers shows a mortality rate for lung cancer 40% above normal and a mortality rate for kidney cancer 90% above normal. This is why the monitoring of minors in Niger is a very important issue as pathologies often occur after a few years and sometimes after a few decades, hence the need to follow them, the establishment of diagnostics, care and ‘compensation in the very long term. to Orano. “
The poisoned legacy
The other major issue of concern is the management of the millions of tonnes of radioactive waste produced by the company and the Cominak plant, which are currently open. These dust and radioactive gases spread easily and reach the environment in the densely populated city of Akokan Arlit. The implementation of major long-term solutions to secure and contain this radioactive waste will be Cominak’s biggest challenge in the coming years.
For decades, contaminated scrap metal has been sold in markets and sometimes found its way inside houses, sometimes to create walls. Cominak is also expected to identify and clean up these houses, not to mention access to drinking water and electricity, which can become more complicated once the company has left.
Closing a mine is always difficult, an uranium mine even more so. Orano through its subsidiary Orano Cycle Niger, which manages Cominak, is committed to being exemplary and playing its image. The people of Arlit are waiting for concrete answers and are worried about the enormous scope of the challenge.
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