What natural resources does Niger have?
Niger, the landlocked West African country whose junta-backed government is led by Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine, sits on a remarkable trove of natural resources, with uranium above all else, alongside oil, gold, coal, iron ore, phosphates, tin, salt, and gypsum.
What Niger sits on, in dollars
- Uranium: Niger holds about 6% of the world's uranium in the ground, about 351,000 tonnes worth about $82 billion, and supplies about 1.6% of the world's uranium today.
- Oil: Niger has 150 million barrels of proven oil reserves, about 0.01% of the world's, with older estimates of about 1 billion barrels. Output was about 102,000 barrels a day in 2025, around $3.9 billion a year and about 0.1% of world supply.
| Resource | In the ground (share of world) | Value in the ground | Output today (share of world supply) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uranium | about 351,000 tonnes (about 6%) | about $82 billion | 962 tonnes in 2024, about $225 million (about 1.6%) |
| Oil | 150 million barrels proven, about 1 billion estimated (about 0.01%) | about $16 billion proven, about $105 billion estimated | about 102,000 barrels a day in 2025, about $3.9 billion a year (about 0.1%) |
| Coal | about 85 million tonnes | not estimated | used at home for power |
Who buys it, and how much is processed at home
- Uranium. All of Niger's uranium ore is milled at the mines into yellowcake, a uranium concentrate. None of it is converted or enriched into reactor fuel in Niger; that happens abroad. For decades almost all of it went to France's Orano, and Niger supplied about a quarter of the European Union's uranium. Since the state took over the Arlit mine in 2025, sales have stalled: more than 1,000 tonnes of yellowcake are waiting at Niamey airport, with Russia the likely buyer and Romania also in talks.
- Oil. About 20,000 barrels a day, roughly a fifth of production, is refined at home at the Soraz refinery near Zinder, which supplies Niger's own fuel. The rest, about four fifths, is exported as crude through the Niger-Benin pipeline and sold by China's CNPC, through its trading arm Chinaoil, and by global trading houses to buyers in Europe and Asia.
- Coal. All of it is used at home, to generate electricity.
- Gold. Gold exports were about $2.7 billion in 2025, and Niger plans a gold refinery with Dubai-based Sovereign Royal Gold Trading so that more of it is refined at home.
Each resource in brief
- Uranium. Niger's uranium is mined around Arlit and Akokan in the Saharan north. Its uranium resources are the fifth or sixth largest in the world, according to the World Nuclear Association. The largest single deposit, Imouraren, holds about 171,000 tonnes, around $40 billion at today's price; the government withdrew its license from Orano in 2024. The Dasa project (Global Atomic) holds another 42,000 tonnes and aims to start producing in 2028. Output has fallen from more than 2,000 tonnes a year to 962 tonnes in 2024, after the Akouta mine closed and the state took over the Arlit operation, SOMAÏR.
- Oil. Niger's first oil find was the Tintouma field in 1975; today almost all output comes from the Agadem basin in the east. Output more than tripled in 2025 once the pipeline to Benin, Africa's longest, opened.
- Coal. About 70 million tonnes at Salkadamna and 15 million tonnes at Anou Araren, where mining began after the deposit was found in the late 1960s.
- Niger also has gold, phosphates, iron ore, tin, molybdenum, salt and gypsum.
Worth knowing
- Minerals make up about 40% of Niger's exports.
- Niger remains one of the world's poorest countries.
How the values are worked out: reserves or output multiplied by today's market price (uranium about $89.75 a pound of uranium oxide, Brent crude about $105 a barrel). They are estimates.
Follow-ups
Why is it waiting at Niamey airport?
The cargo stuck at Niamey's airport is a large shipment of concentrated uranium, blocked there since late 2025 and waiting, with no confirmed movement since.
Diori Hamani International Airport in Niger's capital, Niamey, doubles as a civilian and military facility, and it sits at the center of a geopolitical standoff over who controls Niger's most valuable export. Between December and January, a large cargo of concentrated uranium from the country's key uranium producer was blocked at the airport while waiting for export. No movement of that cargo has since been identified.
Concentrated uranium, often called "yellowcake," is uranium ore that has been processed into a powder form ready for shipping to enrichment facilities overseas. It is the raw material that nuclear power plants and weapons programs run on, and Niger sits on roughly six percent of the world's reserves.
Why it is stuck
The blockage is a product of the same political ruptures that have defined Niger since the 2023 coup. The coup triggered a series of crises: under General Abdourahamane Tchiani's junta, Niger broke ties with France, moved closer to Russia, and closed its borders with Benin after accusing it of harboring French troops, and Benin retaliated by blocking oil exports from its port. The same friction that strangled the oil pipeline has reached the uranium trade.
The airport itself has also become a target and a command post. Russian military forces entered Niamey's Airbase 101, establishing a logistics and command hub linked to Africa Corps operations across uranium-rich West Africa, meaning any export now moves through a Russian-secured environment. Islamic State militants launched a predawn assault on Air Base 101 and Niamey International Airport, damaging several aircraft before being repelled with assistance from Russia's Africa Corps.
Who the uranium belongs to
The junta has been systematically stripping Western mining companies of their licenses. The junta canceled gold mining concessions held by several firms, and rejected a request by British energy firm Savannah Energy to extend its exploration and drilling license, citing breaches of contract. France's Orano, which historically dominated Niger's uranium sector, lost its permit for the Imouraren mine. The stranded cargo at the airport fits this pattern: uranium that was processed and ready to ship under the old arrangements, now caught in limbo because the political and commercial terms underneath it collapsed.
Following the completed US military withdrawal and the addition of uranium to the US critical minerals list, Washington re-engaged Niamey through commercial finance rather than defense ties, with the vehicle being the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the target being Global Atomic's Dasa uranium project. The cargo sitting on the tarmac is a reminder of how completely the old order has broken down, and how contested the new one still is.
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