US approves $414M uranium investment in Niger, two years after troops left
Uranium project investment could mark a turning point in US-Niger and US-Canada relations.
The United States government has signed off on as much as $414m in financing for a uranium project in Niger, according to the project’s developer, two years after Washington agreed to withdraw troops from the African country.
The US Development Finance Corp approved the debt facility for Canadian miner Global Atomic’s Dasa project, which the company describes as the highest-grade uranium deposit in Africa, according to a company statement on Wednesday.
The investment could bolster US access to a strategic uranium supply at a time when Niger, the world’s seventh-largest uranium producer, is locked in a dispute with French state-backed miner Orano, which long dominated the country’s uranium sector.
One source familiar with discussions involving Global Atomic and the Development Finance Corp said a breakthrough came this summer when chief executive Stephen Roman travelled to Washington to resolve remaining issues holding up approval.