Arlit and Akokan uranium mines

SOMAÏR began open-pit mining at Arlit in 1971. COMINAK, set up in 1974 by a consortium led by France's Cogema (later Areva, now Orano), started the Akouta underground mine in 1978, with more than 250 km of tunnels down to 250 m, which produced about 61,500 tonnes of uranium by the time it closed. In the 1980s uranium made up 90% of Niger's exports. Arlit, which was born with the mine, had 112,432 inhabitants at the 2012 census.

Independent checks came late. In 2005 the French laboratory CRIIRAD found gross alpha and beta activity in drinking water above WHO reference levels and judged the criteria for releasing scrap metal from the sites inadequate; it estimated that inhaling dust and radon could give doses above 1 mSv a year. In 2009–2010 Greenpeace measured radiation levels it called dangerous in some streets of Akokan. Between 2012 and 2013 about 1,600 tonnes of scrap left the two sites and some lots proved radioactive. On 11 December 2010 a retention basin at SOMAÏR failed, spilling 200 m³ of uranium-bearing liquids over 2 hectares.

COMINAK closed in 2021 when the deposit ran out; the reclamation plan is paid for in part by a fund set up by the company and its shareholders. At SOMAÏR Orano suspended operations in October 2024 and then lost control of the company.