The military government of Niger is going to nationalize the only gold mine in the West African country. The French news agency AFP reports this on Saturday based on a statement from General Abdourahahane Tiani, which he read on the state television.
“This measure fits in seamlessly with the vision of the President of the Republic: namely the promotion of the full ownership of the natural resources by the Nigerese people,” the General said.
In 2019, Niger sold 80 percent of the shares in Société des Mines du Liptako (SML SA) to the Australian McKinel Resources Limited. According to the military government, which committed a COUP in 2023, the Australians do not meet their tax liability and miners are still waiting for wages. The mine in the southwestern region of Tillabéri would also urgently need renovation. The junta speaks in a statement of “serious shortcomings.”
Trend
Nationalization fits in a broader trend of West African countries that want more control over the exploitation of their mines, which are now often run by international companies. Burkina Faso has also recently nationalized several gold mines. This week Guinea drew the permit for a bauxite mine from an emirate company and gave it to a state -owned company.
At the end of last year, the Nigerese junta decided to take the uranium mines of the French nuclear fuel company Orano in -house. “Orano has been benefiting from the natural resources of our country for fifty years and determines the conditions. That is ready,” a spokesperson for the junta told Le Monde. Niger released himself from the French colonizer in 1960.
France is one of the many Western countries that previously spoke against the coup in 2023, in which the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum was dropped off and secured. While the European Union imposed sanctions on Niger, the government continued to link up with Russia.