NIGER Republic’s ruling junta said Thursday it had cancelled three gold mining companies’ concessions and denied a licence extension to a British oil company, accusing them of failing to respect their obligations.
The west African country, a uranium, gold and oil producer, has been ruled since a 2023 coup by a military government that has asserted its sovereignty over natural resources.
The government said in a statement it had cancelled concessions awarded between 2017 and 2020 to three gold mining and processing companies: Comini, Afrior and Ecomine.
The three “have not honoured” their commitments, notably to pay taxes, provide an annual technical and financial report and respect environmental regulations, it said.
Niger has just one active industrial gold mine, Samira, which the junta nationalised last year.
The government said it had also rejected a request to grant an extension on an exploration and drilling licence for British firm Savannah Energy in the country’s southeast.
It said the company had failed to respect an output-sharing contract covering four oil blocks.
According to Savannah, the blocks cover about half the Agadem Rift Basin, Niger’s main oil-producing region.
The company says it had recently made a major oil find there.
