French Orano uranium miner requested to halt spending on ore mining and processing in Niger until uranium exports resume, a statement by the company said in a statement.
"The Board [the board of directors of Somair, a joint venture between Orano, which has a share of 64%, and Niger with a 36% share] is requesting a temporary halt to expenditure related to mining and processing ore, until such time as it resumes the export and sale of its products," the statement by Orano read.
The board approved measures to conserve cash for salaries and site safety due to halted exports and sales, the statement explained.
In late October, Orano announced that Somair suspended uranium mining in Niger from October 31 due to its worsening financial difficulties, inability to export uranium concentrate through a closed Niger-Benin border and because of restrictions such as the withdrawal of the operating license of Orano at the Imourarenone mine, reports said.
According to the statement, Orano rejects the Nigerien Mining Minister Ousmane Abarchi's statements on the sidelines of the first ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum in Russia's Sochi as "regrettable and damaging".
"They [the West] actually accused us of having signed a contract to sell uranate to Iran, [...] and a few months later they themselves withdrew their claim, again through their company Orano, which complained that it could no longer export and sell Somair's production. And they themselves admitted this very recently, and that's why they said that production should be suspended because they [...] they're no longer selling their product," Ousmane Abarchi told Sputnik Africa, exposing the West's hypocrisy over uranate sales.