Government grants permit to GoviEx for $676M uranium exploitation project

Pulse Staff 06:17 - 27 January 2016

Niger grants permit to GoviEx for $676M uranium exploitation project

Niamey also granted four permits for uranium exploration to GoviEx Niger Holding Ltd. and two other companies, said the statement, which is read on public television.

Niger has awarded a permit to GoviEx Niger Holdings Ltd., the Niger branch of GoviEx, to exploit uranium for investments worth $676 million at the 243-km Madaouela Project in the Agadez region, according to a government statement.

The landlocked West African country is a major uranium producer and the ore is central to France's nuclear energy program.

French state-owned nuclear company Areva also operates in the central Nigerien region. The relationship has been fraught; in April its workers launched a strike before a court declared it to be illegal.

Niger is one of the world's poorest countries and is ranked 188 of 188 in the U.N. Human Development Index.