Niger's Council of Ministers, meeting on 21 August 2026 under the chairmanship of General Abdourahamane Tiani, approved the transfer of a major uranium mining permit to a newly created state company, Teloua Safeguarding Uranium Mining Company (TSUMCO SA), marking the formal end of Orano's decades-long dominance over the country's uranium sector. The permit covers the In Azaoua perimeter in the Arlit Commune, the area previously exploited by SOMAÏR, and was granted alongside the cancellation of the original Arlit concession that had been granted to France's Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in 1968.
The cabinet's decree stated that the measure was issued to enshrine the award of the permit for Large Mining Exploitation called 'In Azaoua,' thus allowing the continuity of uranium mining in Niger. TSUMCO was created earlier in 2026 to take over operations following the nationalisation of SOMAÏR, in which Orano had held a roughly 63.4% stake. The move follows a sequence that began with the revocation of Orano's Imouraren licence in mid-2024, continued through the December 2024 loss of Orano's operational control at Arlit, and culminated in the formal SOMAÏR nationalisation in June 2025 — part of a broader pattern of resource nationalism pursued by Niger's military government since its July 2023 coup.
The permit transfer sits alongside an unresolved dispute at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). On 23 September 2025, an ICSID tribunal (case ARB/25/8) ordered Niger not to sell, transfer, or facilitate the transfer of uranium produced by SOMAÏR without Orano's consent, a provisional measure that remains in force. Estimates of the stockpiled yellowcake volume vary by source, with figures ranging from roughly 1,000 to 2,000 tonnes cited across different reports, and some estimates value the material at approximately €250 million. No ruling date for a final ICSID decision has been established in available reporting, leaving the stockpile in legal limbo even as operational control of the mining permit has passed to the Nigerien state. Niger's president has separately said the government is prepared to return a much larger volume of historical uranium concentrate — cited at approximately 95,000 tonnes — to Orano, a figure distinct from the contested post-nationalisation stockpile at the centre of the ICSID order.
The episode contrasts with Niger's parallel handling of the Madaouela deposit. On 23 September 2026, Niger signed a Mining Convention with Australian-listed Atomic Eagle (formerly GoviEx Uranium, following a 2025 corporate merger with Tombador Iron), under which the state's equity stake doubled from 20% to 40% — split into a 15% free-carried interest and a 25% contributing interest — while Atomic Eagle retains 60% ownership and operational control. Atomic Eagle agreed to pay Niger an initial fee and provide financing credit against the government's equity contribution, and is expected to drop its ICSID arbitration claim as part of the settlement. That negotiated outcome stands in sharp contrast to the adversarial, unresolved dispute with Orano, suggesting a bifurcated Nigerien strategy: accommodation with newer or smaller foreign partners willing to renegotiate terms, and confrontation with its longest-standing operator.
The TSUMCO permit transfer was reported by multiple outlets, including Bloomberg, World Nuclear News and trade press, indicating it is a substantiated institutional milestone rather than an isolated claim. It formalises a process whose core legal step — the SOMAÏR nationalisation — occurred over a year earlier; what is new is the confirmation of TSUMCO SA's formal permit and the parallel Madaouela settlement.
What to watch: whether ICSID issues a final ruling on the SOMAÏR yellowcake stockpile, whether Niger identifies international buyers — Russian, Chinese, Iranian, Emirati or American entities have all been reported as potential counterparties — for uranium produced under TSUMCO SA, and whether Orano pursues further arbitration or divestment given the loss of its Arlit-area permit.