> they made it clear that the colonial style arrangements with France, which were driving dirt cheap uranium to Europe, were over.
France was overpaying the market rate during the past 10 years to keep good relationships with the previous leadership so no it's the opposite, it's the end of the more expensive uranium for Niger most likely.
The deals between France and Niger are not public, but Reuters was able to provide some citable data here (2015) [1] :
---
"Reuters has reviewed documents which reveal that Areva’s mines pay no export duties on uranium, no taxes on materials and equipment used in mining operations, and a royalty of just 5.5 percent on the uranium they produce."
---
Areva has been restructured and is now Orano. [2] Alongside the token level royalty rate and exemptions, they're undoubtedly also exploiting local labor. Niger is one of the poorest places in the world, with a nominal gdp/capita of $630 - about $50/month. There's a reason the streets were full of people rejoicing when the coup happened!
Not true, the customs data are public and we know the price per kg of each grams of uranium from each counties, the Niger was on the expansive side, you can look it up it's code NC8 is 28441090 on the douane website.
I'm not sure what that table is showing, but it's not what you are implying. Niger is France's plurality supplier, so them showing 5% is clearly measuring something else.
Beyond that, France is not importing from Niger in the nominal sense. A French state owned company, in Niger, mines the uranium, and then gives Niger a token royalty on profits. So if they claimed e.g. $100, you'd expect about $5.50 of that (unless Niger was able to negotiate a better deal since 2015) to go to Niger. So their "real" cost would be the $5.50 plus labor/supplies.
Basically Niger already dropped a lot as a source worldwide due to production costs.
Areva even has a mine with permits to exploit in Imouraren which they don't actually exploit because uranium prices are so low that it's not economical to keep the mine opened.
There's been talks to shut down all the remaining mines even before the coup.
Also the margins that were made don't necessarily depends on the price of the contract on the markets.
The contract with the Nigerien government can be considered OTC.
So people claims that it was fair is disingenuous.
Then again it's a negotiation so the other party is at fault too.
The issue is when one of the other party decides what their counterpart will be in advance, make some arrangements etc. That's not fair and that's what the article also talks about.
But anyway... This is known even in French circles, they don't hide it at all. Just a shame to have such a short-term, outdated vision.
You realize that i24news is also kind of a French media outlet? (it's part of Altice group, same as M6 or Libération and the CEO of the channel is French).
[1]: yes he has 5 different nationalities, but his familly arrived in France when he was a teen, studied in France, made a fortune in France, most of his empire are French companies, and so is his political network, so I'll count him as a fellow French, even if he also has the nationality from Saint Kitts and Nevis…
I wasn't talking about the CEO but the owner, Drahi.
It's still israeli owned.
Drahi is born in Africa.
And he isn't a French national anymore apparently.
Anyway, regardless.
I apologize for the confusion, i24news is broadcast in the USA thanks to a serie of buyouts, from Altice NV to create Altice USA and then another recent acquisition (Cablevision) to acquire broadcasting licenses etc... The details can be found.
I don't dispute the fact that there are links to France (obviously) but the point remains that it's a more global media than what you linked.
I will note that if you want unbiased raw information, you should rather link afp as every true journalist would tell you.
i24news is registered in Luxembourg... Fair enough.
I guess a company being registered in Ireland makes it Irish... Who really cares...
France was overpaying the market rate during the past 10 years to keep good relationships with the previous leadership so no it's the opposite, it's the end of the more expensive uranium for Niger most likely.