Agadez Region

Agadez Region contains Niger's uranium wealth—and its uranium crisis. The twin mining towns of Arlit and Akokan, founded in 1969 after uranium discovery, grew to 100,000 people dependent on an industry now in collapse. French company Orano halted production at the Arlit mine in October 2024 due to financial difficulties caused by the military junta's closure of the Benin border, leaving 750 tons of uranium stranded. In December 2024, the junta nationalized the SOMAIR mine, following June revocation of Orano's license for the massive Imouraren deposit (200,000 tons of reserves). The region now courts Russian and Chinese mining investment. Beyond uranium, Agadez functions as a migration transit hub—West African migrants hire guides in former mining boomtowns to cross the Sahara toward Libya and the Mediterranean. The Tuareg people, traditionally nomadic across this desert territory, have been displaced by mining operations and settled into wage labor, fueling resentment that erupted in 1990s rebellions. The Air Mountains rise in the western portion, providing dramatic scenery for adventure tourism that ceased after the 2023 coup. By 2026, Agadez's trajectory depends on whether Russian or Chinese companies restart uranium production, whether the junta can export stockpiled uranium, and whether any economic activity replaces the mining that sustained this region for fifty years.