SOMAIR

They are situated on the southern border of the Sahara Desert, where uranium is extracted, and are on the western fringe of the Aïr Mountains.

Uranium deposits were also discovered in sandstone formations in other locations in Niger such as Abokurum (1959), Madaouela (1963), Arlette, Ariege, Artois and Tassa/Taza (1965), Imouraren (1966) and Akouta (1967).

[7] Yet another company, the Société Minière de Tassa N'Taghalgue (SMTT) assigned its mining rights in 1996 to SOMAIR before it dissolved.

[8] In May 2023, the Niger government and Orano, the restructured successor to Areva, signed an agreement to extend the operational life of the mine by 11 years to 2040.

[9] In December 2024, Orano announced that it had "lost operational control" of its mining subsidiary Somaïr in Niger.

The company's two shareholders are Cogema (now Areva NC) and ONAREM (Office National des Ressources Minieres du Niger).

Initially, the Artois deposits were extracted by open cut mining up to 60 metres (200 ft) depth with a production rate of 0.30 - 0.35% ore. Lower grade uranium is exploited up to deeper depths of 90 metres (300 ft)), but with lower ore extraction rate of 0.20 - 0.25%.

The optimized design adopted envisages minimizing the cut-and-fill earthworks and also ensure pad-drainage slopes to enable gravity drainage "through a solution channel to the ponds".