Mahamadou Issoufou News

Niger's cabinet of ministers on Friday approved a renewal of French nuclear group Areva's uranium production deal in the West African nation, the government said on Friday, completing two years of often fraught negotiations. The two parties announced the signature of a new 10-year agreement for Areva's Somair and Cominak mines in May, but Friday's green light from President Mahamadou Issoufou and his ministers clears the way for its implementation. The previous production agreement expired in Dec. 31, requiring temporary extensions. Under the deal, Areva agreed to fewer tax breaks and higher royalty rates, the government said in a statement.

The government of Niger, the world's fourth largest uranium producer, is on the verge of renewing an agreement with French state-controlled nuclear group Areva, the West African nation's mines minister said on Sunday. Niger, one of the world's poorest nations, is pushing to boost revenues from its uranium, but Areva, which dominates the sector in the country, has claimed that increasing royalties would make its operations there unprofitable. "We are very, very close to a deal. All that remains is to finalise it. We will sign in the weeks, or even the days to come," Mines Minister Omar Hamidou Tchiana said in an interview with private television stations Labari and Dounia.