July 23, 2015 - Page 1

EJOLT Areva’s Uranium Mines Ines In , Fact sheet 030

INTRODUCTION Mines When uranium was discovered in impoverished Niger in the 1960s, many thought the discovery would contribute Keywords to the economic and social development of the country. Unfortunately, it turned > Uranium mines out to be a poisoned gift. Niger today is > Niger one of the poorest countri es of the world, ranking 186th out of 187 countries in the > AREVA Human Development Index of the United > Tuareg rebellion Nations Development Programme Figure 1: Location of uranuim mines in Niger, Source: Cordula Meyer, Spiegel.de > Aghir in Man NGO (UNDP) in 2012. More than 40% of children are underweight for their age, > Radioactive tailings its corporation, leaving little behind but water and access to improved water environmental disasters and health risks > Radioactive sources is scarce and almost three contamination for the people of Niger. quarters of the population are illiterate. BACKGROUND Uranium was found in the area of the Air Mountains in the , north When France granted independence to Niger, approximately 800 kilometres Niger (and adjacent West African states) (km) North of , the capital of in 1960, contracts were made with the Niger, and 210 km north of the town of respective governments of these states Agadez , one of the main settlements of granting France exclusive rights to the Tuareg, the indigenous people of the mining and exploitation of minerals. Sahara desert (Figure 1). The mining area being far away from any Mining of uranium started in Niger in the infrastructure, the French companies area of the Air Mountains in 1968 where SOMAIR and COMINAK (both a holdi ng company and the first mine, subsidiaries of COGEMA, the French SOMAIR, an open -pit mine, were state-owned company created. Excavation began in 1971, with today known as AREVA), created the an open pit mine ranging from 50 to 70 towns of and Akokan (Figure 1). m deep, located 7 km northwest of the With no electricity provided, the mining town of Arlit. The second mine, companies built a coal -fired power plant an underground one, was created in approximately 190 km south of the 197 4 together with the second holding mining areas, near the village of company, COMINAK. With a depth of Tchirozerine, exploiting comparatively 250 m and over 250 km of tunnels, dirty coal. Today, people in the area COMINAK is the largest underground (more than 100,000 inhabitants) are mine in the world. These two mines were complaining about respiratory problems, opened and are operated to this day, – birth defects, leukemia and cancer. the open-pit mine near the town of Arli t, Death rates linked to respiratory and the underground mine, Akouta. A problems are twice that of the rest of the third mine Imouraren, originally set to country. The e nvironment will suffer from start production in 2013, will be pollution for thousands years to come. operative from mid -2015 due to security The water is poisoned (Figure 2) and the fears and to the increased mobilization aquifers drained, the soil and the air are of the local population. contaminated, making a return to the traditional way of life of the local agro - Even after the concession of exploration pastoralists very difficul t if not licences to other mining companies from impossible. China, Japan and Canada by President Tandja in 2007, the uranium mines In spite of its wealth in mineral (Figure 3) in Niger are mainly operat ed resources, Niger doesn’t benefit from by the French state -owned company mining activities, while the nuclear AREVA which ranks first in the global French giant AREVA earns billions from July 23, 2015 - Page 2

nuclear power industry, importing half of was 114, 346 tU to the end of 2010. its uranium from Niger. Approximately 62,000 tU of this was from underground, and 52,000 t from Mining activities have also contributed to open pit mining. the destabilization of the area. Niger is a divided country, with the Tuareg living in In the past 40 years, 52 million tonnes (t) the north a nd the dominant Hausa ethnic of ore have been excavated, from which group in the south. The capital is in the approximately 100.000 t of uranium have south, and the south controls the been mined by both mines in Niger: on country. Uranium revenues from the average the mines produce more than north are used to buy weapons in the 3,000 tonnes of uranium and net EUR south, which the government then uses 200 million in sales per year: sinc e 2003, Figure 2: Poisoned water near to keep the north in check. The Agadez in Arlit production has been steadily the Akokan mine. Re gion is home of the Tuareg, the increasing and in 2009 overall Source: Greenpeace “Lords of the Desert”: estimated at 1.5 production was 1,808 tonnes of uranium. million, they are a tribe without a As of 2012, SOMAIR had produced country. They have wandered the more than 44,000 tonnes since the mine deserts of the Sahara since the 7th came into operation. The World Nuclear century, across the borders of present - Association reported that SOM AIR was day nation states. Both the French to increase the mine’s capacity to 3,000 coloni sts and the modern -day tonnes of uranium per year; the other governments that have followed have mine, Akouta, has the capacity to continued to marginalize the Tuareg and produce 2,000 tonnes per year and dismiss their claims to land rights and COMINAK has produced more than autonomy. By the time AREVA arrived, 55,000 tonnes of uranium since they had repeatedly lost the land and extraction began in 1974. Development resources they need to survive. A lack of of the large Imouraren deposit about 80 clean water and fertile soil, in particular, km south of Arlit and Akokan was threatens to destroy these nomadic confirmed in January 2008: the project is herders. Angry and desperate, a Tuareg a EUR 1.2 billion investment , the rebellion arose two decades ago, and in production is expected to be 5,000 tU/yr 2007 they organized a rebel group called for 35 years from late 2015. It will be the Mouvement des Nigeriens pour la largest mining project ever undertaken in Justice (MNJ, Nigerians’ Movement for Niger. The deposit covers 8 km by 2.5 Justice) that fights for self -determination km and contains 146,000 tonnes of of the Tuareg in the region and for a measured and indicated uranium greater share of the revenues from resources: when Imouraren will enter northern Niger's uranium wealth to be production, Niger will rank as the world's invested in the region. MNJ activities second largest uranium supplier. have caused instability and led to security prob lems that have continued The company built tw o hospitals in the on and off for many years despite towns of Arlit and Akokan officially open negotiations. to the general population of the area, but basically only the mine workers benefit AREVA’s URANIUM MINES from this service while employed and only for three years after the retirement. Niger is the world's fourth -ranking According to first -hand witnesses and producer of uranium. In 2011 it produced AREVA’s reports, during the 40 years of 4,351 tU (tonnes of uranium), and operations, not one case has been cumulative production from the country diagnosed with a work related illness

This document should be cited as: Bassanese, Valentina. 2015. Areva’s Uranium Mines, Niger , EJOLT Factsheet No. 30 , 4 p. July 23, 2015 - Page 3

and for AREVA, the diseases that have mine was found to be about 100 times occurred to local population are not due higher than normal levels in the region, to mining activities but are typical of and higher than the international desert zones: the c auses of death of exempti on limits; on the streets of workers who passed away in the Akokan, radiation dose rate levels were hospitals were given to the relatives as found to be up to almost 500 times AIDS or malaria. higher than normal background levels - Death rates linked to respiratory Impact problems are twice that of the rest of the country and a large number of birth According to local population and to the de fects, leukaemia and cancer are findings of the independent studies reported carried on by CRIIRAD, Sherpa and - Inequitable distribution of the Figure 3: Uranium mine in Arlit Source: blogs.blouinnews.com Greenpeace, mining activities seriously mining profits that undermine the self - affect local residents and the determination of the local population environment in different ways: - “Everlasting pollution” instead of sustainable development that endangers - 35 million tonnes of tailings the traditional agro -pastoralist way of life which still contain 85% of the original of the Tuareg tribes radioactivity of the ore have been accumulated in the past 40 years: for 1 Conflict and consequences kg of uranium produced, 335 kg of tailings are left behind. They will remain In 2001, after a number of miners and radioactive for hundreds of thousands of workers had passed away prematurely, years their colleagues founded an NGO called - 1,600 tonnes of equipment and “Aghir in Man”, a Tamasheq word (the materials used to process the uranium language of the Tuareg people), “a call became radioactively contaminated: the fo r help”. Aghir in Man, started to ask company gave scrap materials (Figure questions to the company in regard to 4) to local people who made pots, pans, the causes of the premature deaths that dishes, roof for their houses from the were never related to the mines as metal, spreading radioactive stated by the two hospitals in the towns contamination all over the area of Arlit and Akokan (owned by AREVA). - Until the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, miners were not informed about In response to a call fro m local resident the dangers of uranium and radiation; Almoustapha Alhacen, president of local according to first hand reports, there was NGO Aghir in’Man, CRIIRAD and French no protective clothing, no dust mask, no human rights organization Sherpa radiation badges. The miners ate their travelled to Arlit in December 2003 to lunch sitting on the urani um rocks; they evaluate the health and safety conditions went home with their clothes full of and conduct a first review of the uranium dust spreading the radioactive radiological e nvironment. Since the first materials into the homes of the miners trip in 2003, CRIIRAD has carried out - In 40 years of operation, a total multiple studies and issued several of 270 billion litres of water have been reports documenting its alarming used, contaminating the water and findings. In partnership with CRIIRAD, draining the aquifer, which will take the French association Sherpa visited millions of years to be replaced; the mining region in 2003 and historical data indicate a gradual interviewed local doctors, citizens and increase in uranium concentration over workers to investigate the origins of the last 20 years, which can point at the health problems being encountered by influence of the mining operation. Some the local population. Its work pushed of the water samples even contained people becoming conscious of the health diss olved radioactive gas radon risks the mine caused to the citizens of - The concentration of uranium the area: this awareness led to th e and other radioactive materials in a soil historic march of 6 May 2006, the first sample collected near the underground July 23, 2015 - Page 4

official demonstration against AREVA in Arlit with more than 5,000 people. Chronology of ma jor events

After the first findings of CRIIRAD, in 1960 independence of Niger and contracts 2009 a Greenpeace team visited the between France and the new Government granting the “exclusive right to mining and uranium mining region of Agadez: t he exploitations of minerals to France” . team’s aim was to document the 1967-1968 Mining of uranium starts with the environmental impacts and associated open pit mine of Arlit controlled by SOMAIR (a human health risks caused by AREVA’s subsidiary of COGEMA, now AREVA) . 1974 Underground mine of Akouta, COMINAK uranium mines. The visit was prepared (now AREVA) Coup d’état against the President in collaboration with the French scientific of Niger Diori who asked France for an increase laboratory CRIIRAD and ROTAB, a in uranium p rices . network of NGOs in Niger. The alar ming 1990s Start of Tuareg rebellion . findings reinforced the need for 2001 Creation of AREVA Figure 4: Scrap materials from Creation of the local NGO “Aghir in Man” to find mining activities independent studies on the situation the causes of the premature deaths of a large Source: blog Beyond Nulear around the Niger uranium mines that number of miners . AREVA never supported . 2003-2004 First research made by the NGOs CRIIRAD and SHERPA which pointed out alarming findings of dangerous radiation in the The mobilization of the local population area (soil, water, air) .Starting of the mobilization is led by local EJOs, CSOs and NGOs of workers and citizens of Arlit and Akokan . like Aghir in Man, Coordination Société 2007 President of Niger Tandja gives exploration Civil d’Arlit, Le collectif AREVA ne fera licences to other States (China, Canada, Japan) . 2007-2009 Second Tuareg rebellion . pas la loi au Niger (AREVA won’t rule in 2009 Greenpeace mission to Niger to Niger), Alhak An Akal, Association des document environmental impacts of uranium Femmes des Quartiers Périphérique mines. d’Arlit (Women Association of Arlit 2010 AQMI (Al Qaeda au Maghreb Islamique) peripherical neighbours), ROTAB kidnaps french expats at the AREVA site of Arlit Coup d’etat against President Tandja . (Réseau organisations transparence et 2012 AREVA postpones in 2015 -2016 the analyse bud gétaire (Publish what you opening of the Imouraren mine . pay) that ask for better work conditions, 2013 Strikes of miners over labour conditions sharing of the mining revenues to stay in and financial improvements Bomb attack at AREVA’s sites in Arlit . the Region, participation of local population and self -determination, the respect for the environment and health and the recovery of soil and wate r damaged by mining activities. They organize strikes (the last one date back to April 2013), marches and peaceful sit - References This publication was developed as a in in the mining sites. • part of the project Environmental CRIIRAD. Rapport CRIIRAD N°10-09 . Justice Organisations, Liabilities and • Dixon, Andrea A. (2010) Left in the dust - Trade (EJOLT) (FP7-Science in Apart from peaceful demonstrations, in AREVA’s radioactive legacy in the desert Society-2010-1, under grant 2008 and 2010 the MJN together with towns of Niger . Greenpeace . agreement no 266642). The views AQMI kidnapped French AREVA’s • Sherpa . and opinions expressed in all EJOLT • World Nuclear Association . publications reflect the authors’ view workers near the town of Arlit, four of and the European Union is not liable them still being held, while in May 2013 All sources last accessed 07.02.2015 for any use that may be made of the an AQMI bomb attack against the mining information contained therein. EJOLT aims to improve policy responses to compound, near Arlit, was part of a twin and support collaborative research car bombing that also targeted a military and action on environmental conflicts base in Agadez, with 15 people injured, through capacity building of environmental justice groups around one of which later d ied the same day. the world. Visit our free resource library and database at www.ejolt.org AREVA has partially restarted uranium or Facebook (www.facebook.com/ejolt) or follow production at its SOMAIR mine since the tweets (@EnvJustice) to stay current bomb attack, but the present situation in on latest news and events. the region is still highly charged, and seems to be far from reaching a peaceful resolution.