Washington's Return to Niger: A $414 Million Uranium Bet Amid a French Mining Dispute

Two years after Niger's military government forced US troops to leave, Washington is back in the country with a major financial stake: up to $414 million in financing for a uranium project, in what sources call a diplomatic and commercial breakthrough.

The deal
The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has approved the debt facility for Canadian miner Global Atomic's Dasa project, which the company describes as the highest-grade uranium deposit in Africa. Sources familiar with the matter called it a win for Washington, and Niger's government did not respond to a request for comment.

Why now
People familiar with the effort said the US ambassador had urged Washington to rebuild ties with Niamey and back the project, after the Trump administration took office with a renewed push on deal-making in Africa.

Uranium was added to the US critical minerals list last year, sharpening Washington's interest in Niger's reserves. Niger, the world's seventh-largest uranium producer, has relied on Russian paramilitaries for security since expelling US forces in 2024, following the 2023 coup, so the deal is seen as a chance for Washington to secure a strategic resource that might otherwise fall further into rival powers' orbit.

The dispute at the centre of it
The investment lands squarely inside an unresolved fight between Niger's government and French state-backed miner Orano, which long dominated the country's uranium sector.

Niger's military government expropriated Orano's 63.4% stake in the SOMAÏR mine, and Orano has since launched international arbitration at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

In a September 2025 ruling, the ICSID tribunal ordered Niger not to sell, transfer or facilitate the transfer of uranium produced at SOMAÏR that Orano says is being withheld in violation of its rights.

Orano has also said it continues to deplore the prolonged detention of its representative in Niger. The uranium stockpiles caught up in that dispute are part of what has drawn fresh US interest.

Real risks ahead
The Dasa project faces serious security and logistical hurdles. Niger is landlocked, and Global Atomic has been exploring alternative export routes because of security concerns, including a possible route north through Algeria and across the Sahara.

Algeria sent aircraft to Niger last month to help the government respond to an attempted mutiny, a sign of strengthening ties between the two neighbours. Last month's mutiny, which targeted a key military airbase, the presidential palace and other sensitive sites in Niamey, is itself a reminder of how unsettled the security picture remains.

Niger has accused France of orchestrating that offensive, a claim Paris has denied.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,

International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. ( USIP)

[email protected]
+233555275880

Sources
Reuters via U.S. News, "US Seals Big Uranium Investment in Niger, Two Years After Troops Left," Sept. 17, 2026 (https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-09-17/us-seals-big-uranium-investment-in-niger-two-years-after-troops-left)

Al Jazeera, "US approves $414M uranium investment in Niger, two years after troops left," Sept. 17, 2026 (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/17/us-approves-414m-uranium-investment-in-niger-two-years-after-troops-left)

Yahoo News/Reuters, same story with security-route detail (https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/us-approves-414m-uranium-investment-231625523.html)

CNBC Africa, same Reuters story (https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2026/us-seals-big-uranium-investment-in-niger-two-years-after-troops-left)

Wikipedia, "Orano," on the ICSID case and expropriation of the SOMAÏR stake (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orano)

BusinessWire, "Orano: The ICSID Arbitral Tribunal Opposes the Sale by the State of Niger of Uranium Produced by SOMAÏR," Sept. 2025 (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250926552878/en/Orano-The-ICSID-Arbitral-Tribunal-Opposes-the-Sale-by-the-State-of-Niger-of-Uranium-Produced-by-SOMAR)