Junta seizes control of uranium operations

French nuclear group Orano has announced that authorities in Niger have taken ‘operational control’ of its uranium mining unit, in an escalating conflict between the company and the country's ruling junta. The junta, which took power in a coup in July last year, has vowed to revamp regulation of the mining of raw materials by foreign companies. In June, the authorities withdrew Orano's permit to exploit one of the largest uranium deposits in the world. Radio France Internationale reports that Niger is the world's seventh-largest uranium producer. ‘For several months, Orano has been warning of the interference that the group has been suffering in the governance of (its local unit) Somair. The decisions taken at the company's board meetings are no longer being applied and, as a result, Orano is today confirming that the Nigerien authorities have taken operational control,’ the company said in a statement.