The Akouta Mining Company (Cominak), operated from 1978 near Arlit by the French group Areva, now Orano, closed in 2021 due to the exhaustion of its reserves, after producing 75,000 tons of uranium.

Its redevelopment, costing 150 million euros, is underway and is expected to last ten years, followed by at least five years of environmental monitoring.

Cominak intends to return at the end of the redevelopment work "a safe, healthy and non-polluting site, in compliance with national standards and international recommendations", says the director general of Cominak, Mahaman Sani Abdoulaye, to French journalists, the first to return to the Arlit site since the kidnapping in 2010 of seven Areva employees. including five Frenchmen.

The remains of the Cominak mine near Arlit, Niger, March 8, 2023. Operated by the French group Areva, now Orano, the mine began operations in 1978, it closed in 2021 due to the depletion of its reserves © OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT / AFP

The largest project is to secure the mountains with some 20 million tonnes of rock waste and ore tailings that have been in contact with uranium. They extend over 120 hectares, and in places reach 35 meters high.

"Natural doses"

Their presence raises fears of serious consequences for the health of former employees and the rest of the local population.

The remains of the Cominak mine near Arlit, Niger, March 8, 2023. Operated by the French group Areva, now Orano, the mine began operations in 1978, it closed in 2021 due to the depletion of its reserves © OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT / AFP

These "radioactive residues stored in the open air next to the old mine" are "the greatest negative legacy that uranium mining has left us," fumes Rhamar Ilatoufegh, head of Aghir In'man (human shield, in Tuareg language), a human rights and environmental protection NGO created in 2000 in Arlit.

A specialized French association, the Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity (Criirad), believes that waste is "a sword of Damocles for the supply of drinking water".

Cominak and the Orano group, on the other hand, want to be reassuring.

"We have here natural doses (of radiation) lower than what can be found in other regions in France and in the world," says Hélène Sciorella Djibo, responsible for the redevelopment of the company's site, ensuring that there is no "artificial radioactivity created by man", the most dangerous.

According to Orano, the maximum level of radioactivity on humans recorded at the mine site was 8.6 millisieverts per year in 2022, well below the regulatory threshold of 20 mSv/year for miners in Niger.

"The doses are below the standards of Nigerien and international legislation," abounds Gilles Récoché, geologist and director of responsibility, commitment and communication of the group.

Orano adds that the "hills" will be reprofiled and covered with two meters of guaranteed impermeable materials (argillite and sandstone) at the end of the works, and that these are accompanied by control measures in the city of Arlit and its surroundings, where some 200,000 people live.

"A wide sweep has been set up throughout the city to monitor the radioactivity of air and water," said Mr. Récoché.

'Mistrust and fears'

But the concern remains. Bassirou Babalé, Departmental Director of Arlit Mines, recalls that the residues "are radioactive" and that it is necessary to "avoid that there are cracks and that radon (the gas resulting from the natural disintegration of uranium) floods the city". Tests are underway, he says.

The remains of the Cominak mine near Arlit, Niger, March 8, 2023. Operated by the French group Areva, now Orano, the mine began operations in 1978, it closed in 2021 due to the depletion of its reserves © OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT / AFP

"There is mistrust, doubts and fears about radioactivity in our city, it's normal, but measures are being taken to deal with it," said Arlit Mayor Abdourahmane Maouli.

According to Mr. Récoché, "there is no proven case of radioactivity-related disease" in the Arlit region.

But for Hassan Souley, a former Cominak worker met in Arlit, "people are 7 km from the quarries" and some "are sick". He is not angry: according to him, "everyone is worried" because "Orano is at the root of all these problems and does not even want to listen to us".

Created in 2012, the Health Observatory of the Agadez Region (Osra), has since conducted a medical follow-up of retirees and licensees of Cominak and the other mine in the region operated by Orano, the Aïr Mining Company (Somaïr), still in operation.

Questioned by AFP, Ayouba Dogonyaro, a service provider at Osra, said that "out of 2,000 consultations, we detected a dozen cases of occupational diseases attributable to radiation, blood and lung cancers, silicosis, six of which were recognized by the Osra Medical Committee composed of three doctors representing mines, civil society and the State".

© 2023 AFP