Arlit is an industrial town and capital of the

Arlit Department Arlit is a department of the Agadez Region in Niger. Its capital lies at the city of Arlit. As of 2012, the department had a total population of 105,025 people. Communes It is divided administratively into the following communes: *Arlit * Dann ...

of the

Agadez Region Agadez Region is one of the seven regions of Niger. At , it covers more than half of Niger's land area, and is the largest region in the country, as well as the largest African state subdivision. The capital of the department is Agadez. Histo ...

of northern-central

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesSahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

and the eastern edge of the

Aïr Mountains The Aïr Mountains or Aïr Massif ( tmh, Ayăr; Hausa: Eastern ''Azbin'', Western ''Abzin'') is a triangular massif, located in northern Niger, within the Sahara. Part of the West Saharan montane xeric woodlands ecoregion, they r ...

. It is 200 km south by road from the border with

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. As of 2011, the commune had a total population of 112,432 people.

Uranium industry

Founded in 1969 following the discovery of

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

, it has grown around the mining industry, developed by the French government. Two large

uranium mines Uranium production is carried out in about 13 countries around the world, in 2017 producing a cumulative total of 59,462 tonnes of uranium (tU). The international producers were Kazakhstan (39%), Canada (22%), Australia (10%), Namibia (7.1%), Nig ...

, at

Arlit Arlit is an industrial town and capital of the Arlit Department of the Agadez Region of northern-central Niger, built between the Sahara Desert and the eastern edge of the Aïr Mountains. It is 200 km south by road from the border with ...

and nearby Akouta, are exploited by open top strip mining. One open pit mine was built in 1971 by the National Mining Company of Niger,

SOMAIR SOMAIR (Société des Mines de l'Air) is a national mining company of Niger in the mining area of its northern zone. Established in 1968, it started uranium mining at the Arlit deposit in 1971, mining 0.30 - 0.35% ore down to depth of depth. By ...

. The Second open pit mine, as well as a third

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

mine, was built by the French Compagnie Minière d'Akouta (or

COMINAK COMINAK (Compagnie minière d'Akokan) is a national uranium mining company of Niger. It is a joint venture between the French company Areva NC and the state of Niger, which operates in the field of mining. COMINAK was established in 1974, followin ...

). All the ore from both is now processed and transported by a French company

Orano Cycle Orano Cycle, formerly COGEMA (''Compagnie générale des matières nucléaires'') and Areva NC, is a French nuclear company. It is the main subsidiary of Orano S.A. It is an industrial group active in all stages of the uranium fuel cycle, inclu ...

, a holding of the

Orano Orano SA is a multinational nuclear fuel cycle company headquartered in Châtillon, Hauts-de-Seine, France. The company is engaged in uranium mining, conversion-enrichment, spent fuel recycling, nuclear logistics, dismantling, and nuclear cyc ...

group, itself a state owned operation of the French ''Commissariat à l'énergie atomique'' (CEA). The system of French nuclear power generation, as well as the French nuclear weapons program, is dependent on uranium mined at Arlit.

alone employs 1600 foreign nationals on the site. In 2017, 2,116 tonnes of uranium were extracted from the Arlit mines and exported to France via truck to the seaport at

Cotonou Cotonou (; fon, Kútɔ̀nú) is a city in Benin. Its official population count was 679,012 inhabitants in 2012; however, over two million people live in the larger urban area. The urban area continues to expand, notably toward the west. The ci ...

, Bénin. At its peak in the 1980s, 40% of Niger's uranium production came from Arlit, and uranium represented 90% of Niger's exports (by value). A major modern road, known as the ''Uranium Highway'', has been built to transport uranium south, but it has bypassed many towns along the way (

In-Gall In-Gall (var. In Gall, I-n-Gall, In-Gal, Ingal, Ingall) is a town in the Agadez Region, Tchirozerine Department of northeast Niger, with a year-round population of less than 500. Known for its oasis and salt flats, In-Gall is the gathering poi ...

for example) and has radically changed Niger's transportation system.

Boom, bust and recovery

In the late 1980s, Arlit suffered from a steep decline in world uranium prices, and the number of foreign employees in the town was cut to 700, a drop which has rebounded by the first decade of the 21st century. The value of Niger's uranium "boom" has never recovered its 1980s level, causing dislocation and suffering for the tens of thousands of Nigeriens who flocked to the shanty towns surrounding Arlit. Anger at the results of uranium bust, along with a belief that the best jobs were going to those from southern Niger, contributed to the Tuareg Rebellion of the 1990s. As late as 2007, Tuareg nationalists have made a fairer division of profits and jobs for local people a primary demand.

Environmental impact

The impact on the local environment of the Arlit mining industry has been criticised by African and European Non-Governmental Organisations, and

Areva NC Orano Cycle, formerly COGEMA (''Compagnie générale des matières nucléaires'') and Areva NC, is a French nuclear company. It is the main subsidiary of Orano S.A. It is an industrial group active in all stages of the uranium fuel cycle, inclu ...

has especially been accused of a disregard for health and environmental conditions around its operations.

"Yellowcake" controversy

In the build-up to the

war in Iraq This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states. Other armed conflicts involving Iraq * Wars during Mandatory Iraq ** Ikhwan raid on South Iraq 1921 * Smaller conflicts, revolutions, coups and periphery confli ...

there was controversy over allegations in 2003 that

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

was seeking to purchase uranium from Arlit.

Expatriates and immigrants

Arlit has developed a first-world infrastructure and airport to serve European workers and their families, and has become a transit point for illegal immigrants attempting to travel to Algeria, and from there, France.

Military base

The United States has operated a military base in Arlit since approximately 2015.

Transportation

Arlit is served by Arlit Airport.

In popular culture

In 2005 the

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

ese filmmaker, Idrissou Mora-Kpaï, produced and directed the film ''Arlit, deuxième Paris'' (Arlit, a Second Paris) about the large expatriate community in the town. In 2007 Andersen Press published 'The Yellowcake Conspiracy', a novel by British children's author Stephen Davies. The novel is an espionage thriller set in and around the Arlit mine.

Geology

More than 25 uranium deposits occur with Mississippian to

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

age

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

s. Key structural features are the Arlit Fault, and intrusions and

ring dike A ring dike or ring dyke is an intrusive igneous body that is circular, oval or arcuate in plan and has steep contacts. While the widths of ring dikes differ, they can be up to several thousand meters. The most commonly accepted method of ring dik ...

s from 480 to 145 Ma in age.

Climate

Arlit has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(BWh) in Köppen-Geiger system.

References

External links

* * * . * : Le nucléaire, l'uranium et l' "indépendance énergétique" française (B. Belbéoch). * , on the official site of the

Areva Areva S.A. is a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through the French Alternative Energies and Atom ...

mining company.
A forgotten community: The little town in Niger keeping the lights on in France

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{{Coord, 18, 44, N, 7, 23, E, region:NE_type:city, display=title Communes of Niger Agadez Region Mining communities in Africa Mining in Niger Tuareg Populated places established in 1969