Arlit
Encyclopedia
Arlit Department
Arlit is a department of the Agadez Region in Niger. Its capital lies at the city of Arlit.-Communes:It is divided administratively into the following communes:*Afassa*Aguelal*Arlit*Assarara*Elok*Gougaram*Iferouane*Imourarene*I-n-Azaoua*Inignaouei...
of the Agadez Region of northern-central Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
, built between the Sahara
Sahara
The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
desert and the eastern edge of the Aïr mountains. It is 200 km south by road from the border with Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. The town had a population of 69,435 at the 2001 census, and an estimated population of 80,000 in 2006.
Uranium industry
Founded in 1969 following the discovery of uraniumUranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
, it has grown around the mining industry, developed by the French government. Two large uranium mines
Uranium mining
Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. The worldwide production of uranium in 2009 amounted to 50,572 tonnes, of which 27% was mined in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia are the top three producers and together account for 63% of world uranium...
, at Arlit 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. The Second open pit mine, as well as a third underground mine, was built by the French Compagnie Minière d'Akouta (or COMINAK). All the ore from both is now processed and transported by a French company Areva NC
Areva NC
Areva NC, formerly Cogema is a French company, created in 1976 from the production division of the French government's CEA It is an industrial group active in all stages of the uranium fuel cycle, including uranium mining, conversion, enrichment, spent fuel reprocessing, and recycling...
, a holding of the Areva
Areva
AREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie, Paris. AREVA is mainly known for nuclear power; it also has interests in other energy projects. It was created on 3 September 2001, by the merger of Framatome , Cogema and...
group, itself a state owned operation of the French Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA). The system of French nuclear power generation
Nuclear power in France
Nuclear power is the primary source of electric power in France. In 2004, 425.8 TWh out of the country's total production of 540.6 TWh of electricity was from nuclear power , the highest percentage in the world....
, as well as the French nuclear weapons program, is dependent on uranium mined at Arlit. Areva
Areva
AREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie, Paris. AREVA is mainly known for nuclear power; it also has interests in other energy projects. It was created on 3 September 2001, by the merger of Framatome , Cogema and...
alone employs 1600 foreign nationals on the site.
In 2006 3434 tonnes of uranium were extracted from the Arlit mines and exported to France via truck to the seaport at Cotonou
Cotonou
-Demographics:*1979: 320,348 *1992: 536,827 *2002: 665,100 *2005: 690,584 The main languages spoken in Cotonou include the Fon language, Aja language, Yoruba language and French.-Transport:...
, Bénin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
. At its peak in the 1980s, 40 % of world 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
In-Gall is a town in the Agadez Region, Tchirozerine Department of northeast Niger, with a year-round population of less than 500...
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 Nigerans who flocked to the shanty townShanty town
A shanty town is a slum settlement of impoverished people who live in improvised dwellings made from scrap materials: often plywood, corrugated metal and sheets of plastic...
s 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
Tuareg Rebellion
The Tuareg Rebellion was an uprising by various Tuareg groups in Niger and Mali with the aim of achieving autonomy or forming their own nation-state. The insurgency occurred in a period following the regional famine of the 1980s and subsequent refugee crisis, and a time of generalised political...
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 criticized by African and European Non Governmental Organisations, and Areva NCAreva NC
Areva NC, formerly Cogema is a French company, created in 1976 from the production division of the French government's CEA It is an industrial group active in all stages of the uranium fuel cycle, including uranium mining, conversion, enrichment, spent fuel reprocessing, and recycling...
has especially been accused of disregard for health and environmental conditions around its operations.
"Yellowcake" controversy
In the build-up to the war in Iraq there was controversy over allegations in 2003 that Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
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 undocumented immigrants attempting to travel to Algeria, and from there, France.In popular culture
In 2005 the BeninBenin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
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
Stephen Mark Davies
Stephen Davies is a British children's author. As well as books for children, he writes regular letters for The Guardian Weekly and occasional travel pieces for The Sunday Times and Africa Geographic. He has lived in Burkina Faso in Africa since 2001 with his wife, Charlotte.-Books:The Sophie...
. The novel is an espionage thriller set in and around the Arlit mine.
External links
.: Le nucléaire, l'uranium et l' "indépendance énergétique" française (B. Belbéoch)., on the official site of the ArevaAreva
AREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie, Paris. AREVA is mainly known for nuclear power; it also has interests in other energy projects. It was created on 3 September 2001, by the merger of Framatome , Cogema and...
mining company.