Arlit

Founded in 1969 following the discovery of uranium, it has grown around the mining industry, developed by the French government. Two large uranium mines, at Arlit and nearby Akouta, are exploited by open top strip mining. One open-pit mine was built in 1971 by the National Mining Company of Niger, SOMAIR.[http://www.cogema.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=cogema_en/entite/entite_popup_template&cid=1039473235338&rendermode=liv Somair Company Profile]. The second open-pit mine, as well as a third underground mine, was built by the French Compagnie Minière d'Akouta (or COMINAK).{{cite web|url=http://www.world-nuclear.org/sym/2004/souley.htm|author=Georges Capus, Pascal Bourrelier and Moussa Souley|title=Uranium Mining in Niger; Status and Perspectives of a Top Five Producing Country|publisher=World Nuclear Association- N.B.: The WNA is a nuclear industry funded group|year=2004}} All the ore from both is now processed and transported by a French company Orano Cycle, a holding of the Orano group, itself a state-owned operation of the French Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA). The system of French nuclear power generation, as well as the French nuclear weapons program, is dependent on uranium mined at Arlit.[http://www.acdis.uiuc.edu/research/OPs/Pederson/html/contents/sect2.html France and Nuclear Energy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016043517/http://www.acdis.uiuc.edu/research/OPs/Pederson/html/contents/sect2.html |date=16 October 2007 }} and [http://www.acdis.uiuc.edu/research/OPs/Pederson/html/contents/sect7.html French Involvement in Niger] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704070824/http://www.acdis.uiuc.edu/research/OPs/Pederson/html/contents/sect7.html |date=4 July 2007 }}, both from Pederson, Nicholas R. The French Desire for Uranium and its Effects on French Foreign Policy in Africa. Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security: Occasional Papers. PED:1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2000) Orano Cycle alone employs 1600 foreign nationals on the site.according to Le Canard Enchaîné (3 August 2005){{Update inline|date=February 2019}}

In 2017, 2,116 tonnes of uranium were extracted from the Arlit mines{{Cite web|url=http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/mining-of-uranium/world-uranium-mining-production.aspx|title = World Uranium Mining - World Nuclear Association}} and exported to France via truck to the seaport at Cotonou, Bénin. At its peak in the 1980s, 40% of Niger's uranium production came from Arlit, and uranium represented 90% of Niger's exports (by value). A major modern road, known as the Uranium Highway, has been built to transport uranium south, but it has bypassed many towns along the way (In-Gall for example) and has radically changed Niger's transportation system.

In the late 1980s, Arlit suffered from a steep decline in world uranium prices, and the number of foreign employees in the town was cut to 700, a drop which has rebounded by the first decade of the 21st century. The value of Niger's uranium "boom" has never recovered its 1980s level, causing dislocation and suffering for the tens of thousands of Nigeriens who flocked to the shanty towns surrounding Arlit.

Anger at the results of uranium bust, along with a belief that the best jobs were going to those from southern Niger, contributed to the Tuareg Rebellion of the 1990s. As late as 2007, Tuareg nationalists have made a fairer division of profits and jobs for local people a primary demand.[ l'Humanite, ] June 2007.

On a macroeconomic scale, Arlit can be said to suffer from Dutch disease, or Dutch curse, a phenomenon where over-emphasis on one particular sector (commonly a highly sought after resource such as oil) hinders normal development of other sectors essential to an economy.

The impact on the local environment of the Arlit mining industry has been criticised by African and European Non-Governmental Organisations, and Areva NC has especially been accused of a disregard for health and environmental conditions around its operations.[http://www.criirad.org/actualites/dossiers2005/niger/somniger.html Le dossier sur la mine d'Arlit] de la CRIIRAD The French NGO Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity has described the surface nuclear waste piles near Arlit as a danger to the area's water supply.{{cite news |url=https://www.africanews.com/2023/03/19/french-nuclear-giant-to-explore-potential-of-uranium-deposit-in-niger// |title=French nuclear giant to explore potential of uranium deposit in Niger |website=Africanews |date=19 March 2023 |access-date=4 August 2023}}

In the build-up to the war in Iraq there was controversy over allegations in 2003 that Saddam Hussein was seeking to purchase uranium from Arlit.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

File:Niger, Arlit (18), street scene.jpg

Arlit has developed a first-world infrastructure and airport to serve European workers and their families, and has become a transit point for illegal immigrants attempting to travel to Algeria, and from there, France.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

The United States has operated a military base in Arlit since approximately 2015.{{cite web |title=Ben Taub on Twitter: "Secret military base near Arlit, Niger, revealed as a white dot in a sea of black, because Western soldiers didn't turn off their Fitbits |url=https://twitter.com/bentaub91/status/957646805767983104 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128235023/https://twitter.com/bentaub91/status/957646805767983104 |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 January 2018 |first=Ben |last=Taub |publisher=Twitter via the Internet Archive |date=January 28, 2018 |access-date=25 August 2020 }}{{cite news |url=http://www.dw.com/en/us-drone-war-expands-to-niger/a-36498052 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |title=US drone war expands to Niger |date=November 23, 2016 |first=Friederike |last=Müller-Jung |quote=An additional US base in Arlit, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Agadez, has been operating for about a year, but little is known about it, Moore said, except that special forces are presumably stationed there.}}{{cite news |quote=In missions run out of a base in the northern Niger town of Arlit and others like the one that led to the ambush of U.S. troops, sources say they have helped local troops and intelligence agents make several arrests. |title=U.S. deaths in Niger highlight Africa military mission creep |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-africa-security/u-s-deaths-in-niger-highlight-africa-military-mission-creep-idUSKBN1CB2J1 |first1=David |last1=Lewis |first2=Joe |last2=Bavier |editor-first=Ralph |editor-last=Boulton |work=Reuters}}

Arlit is served by Arlit Airport.

In 2005 the Beninese filmmaker, Idrissou Mora-Kpai, produced and directed the film [https://idrimora.com/projects/arlit/ Arlit, deuxième Paris] (Arlit, a Second Paris) about the large expatriate community in the town.

In 2007 Andersen Press published 'The Yellowcake Conspiracy', a novel by British children's author Stephen Davies. The novel is an espionage thriller set in and around the Arlit mine.

More than 25 uranium deposits occur within Mississippian to Cretaceous age sandstones. Key structural features are the Arlit Fault, and intrusions and ring dikes from 480 to 145 Ma in age.{{cite book|last1=Nash|first1=J. Thomas|title=Volcanogenic Uranium Deposits: Geology, Geochemical Processes, and Criteria for Resource Management|date=2010|publisher=USGA|location=Reston|page=36}}

Arlit has a hot arid climate (BWh under the Köppen-Geiger system.)

{{Weather box

|metric first=yes

|single line=yes

|location=Arlit

|Jan high C=26.9

|Feb high C=30.1

|Mar high C=34.3

|Apr high C=38.6

|May high C=41.2

|Jun high C=41.5

|Jul high C=39.8

|Aug high C=38.6

|Sep high C=39

|Oct high C=37

|Nov high C=32.3

|Dec high C=28.4

|Jan mean C=18.8

|Feb mean C=21.7

|Mar mean C=25.9

|Apr mean C=30.5

|May mean C=33.4

|Jun mean C=34.2

|Jul mean C=32.8

|Aug mean C=31.9

|Sep mean C=31.8

|Oct mean C=29.3

|Nov mean C=24.2

|Dec mean C=20.5

|Jan low C=10.8

|Feb low C=13.3

|Mar low C=17.5

|Apr low C=22.4

|May low C=25.7

|Jun low C=27

|Jul low C=25.9

|Aug low C=25.3

|Sep low C=24.6

|Oct low C=21.6

|Nov low C=16.1

|Dec low C=12.7

|rain colour=green

|Jan rain mm=0

|Feb rain mm=0

|Mar rain mm=0

|Apr rain mm=1

|May rain mm=1

|Jun rain mm=5

|Jul rain mm=11

|Aug rain mm=18

|Sep rain mm=5

|Oct rain mm=0

|Nov rain mm=0

|Dec rain mm=0

| source 1 = Climate-Data.org, altitude: {{convert|429|m|ft|0|disp=or}}{{cite web|title=Climate: Arlit – Climate graph, Temperature graph, Climate table|url=http://en.climate-data.org/location/3464/|publisher=Climate-Data.org|access-date=3 October 2013}}

}}

• Economy of Niger
• Battle of Agadez and Arlit

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Arlit}}

• {{webtrans|http://arlit.free.fr/|Website and photos of the town|fr}}
• {{webtrans|1=https://web.archive.org/web/20070918061339/http://www.yannarthusbertrand.com:80/yann2/GenererFond.php?format=1024x768&reference=184&pais=Niger&lang=fr|2=Rejets de la mine d'uranium d'Arlit, massif de l'Aïr, Niger (19°00' N – 7°38' E)|3=fr}}
• {{webtrans|http://trenteseptbis.free.fr/agadez.org/pages_culture/arlit.htm|agadez.org page on Arlit|fr}}.
• {{webtrans|http://www.dissident-media.org/infonucleaire/niger.html|Mines d'uranium au Niger : Un scandale nommé COGEMA|fr}}: Le nucléaire, l'uranium et l' "indépendance énergétique" française (B. Belbéoch).
• {{webtrans|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623182842/http://www.cogema.fr:80/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=cogema_fr%2FPage%2Fpage_activite_full_template&c=Page&cid=1030635766978|title=La production d'Uranium au service du développement durable|lang=fr}}, on the official site of the Areva mining company.
• [http://africanarguments.org/2017/07/18/a-forgotten-community-the-little-town-in-niger-keeping-the-lights-on-in-france-uranium-arlit-areva/ A forgotten community: The little town in Niger keeping the lights on in France]
• [http://maps.google.dk/maps?source=s_q&hl=da&geocode=&q=trans-sahara+hwy&sll=55.869147,11.228027&sspn=7.157109,19.753418&ie=UTF8&radius=15000.000000&split=1&hq=trans-sahara+hwy&hnear=&ll=18.773065,7.33067&spn=0.023567,0.038581&t=h&z=15 googlemaps]

{{Communes of Niger}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Coord|18|44|N|7|23|E|region:NE_type:city|display=title}}

Category:Communes of Niger

Category:Agadez Region

Category:Mining communities in Africa

Category:Mining in Niger

Category:Tuareg

Category:Populated places established in 1969