French nuclear energy group Areva said on Friday it will start producing uranium at its Imouraren mine in Niger in 2013 or 2014, rather than 2012 as planned, because of fallout from the global financial crisis.
The mine is still expected to produce 5,000 tonnes per year, Areva said.
Areva has two mines currently producing uranium in Niger’s north and has set 2010 output targets for the Somair and Cominak mines at 2,600 tonnes and 1,430 tonnes, respectively. Somair produced some 1,806 tonnes in 2009 and Cominak 1,436 tonnes.
Niger’s President Mamadou Tandja was ousted by soldiers in a coup last week but Areva would not comment on the political situation and said the delay to Imouraren was a result of a reassessment of the cost of the project during the global financial crisis.
"We will not be able to start production in 2012. The first tonnes of uranium are forecast in 2013/2014," Moussa Souley, a spokesman for Areva in Niamey, told Reuters in an e-mailed response to questions on Friday.
"The forecast level of production of the mine is 5,000 tonnes of uranium per year," he added.
The soldiers now running the West African desert nation, which is one of the world’s least developed but has significant uranium and oil reserves, say investors have been reassured.
The junta has also vowed elections but not yet given a date.
With a price tag of 1.2 billion euros, Imouraren is expected to be the biggest uranium mine in Africa.
"With the financial crisis, the markets changed and we had to reassess the overall cost of the project," Souley said, when asked to explain the delay in the start-up of the Imouraren project.
"The size of the investment has not changed," he added.
Souley said the company was currently carrying out detailed studies, as well as building access roads, an airport and offices at the mine site.
Under Tandja’s rule, Niger handed out dozens of exploration licenses to mining companies seeking to take advantage of a rise in interest in uranium.
However, the mining region in the desert north of the country has been insecure since 2007, when Tuareg rebels launched a rebellion against the government. That insurgency has ended but banditry remains a problem in the zone.
With its Somair and Cominak mines, Areva is one of the few companies actually producing uranium in Niger.
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