Arlit | |
|---|---|
 The open pit Uranium Mine at Arlit | |
  Arlit Location in Niger | |
| Coordinates:18°44′N7°23′E / 18.733°N 7.383°E /18.733; 7.383 | |
| Country |  Niger |
| Region | Agadez Region |
| Seat | Arlit Department |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,247 km2 (481 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 425 m (1,394 ft) |
| Population (2012 census) | |
• Total | 112,432 |
| • Density | 90/km2 (230/sq mi) |
Arlit is an industrial town and capital of theArlit Department of theAgadez Region of northern-centralNiger, built between theSahara Desert and the eastern edge of theAïr Mountains. It is 200 kilometers south by road from the border withAlgeria. As of 2012, the commune had a total population of 79,725 people.[1]
Founded in 1969 following the discovery ofuranium, it has grown around themining industry, developed by theFrench government. Two largeuranium mines, atArlit and nearbyAkouta, are exploited byopen top strip mining. One open-pit mine was built in 1971 by the National Mining Company of Niger,SOMAIR.[2] The second open-pit mine, as well as a thirdunderground mine, was built by the French Compagnie Minière d'Akouta (orCOMINAK).[3] All the ore from both is now processed and transported by a French companyOrano Cycle, a holding of theOrano group, itself a state-owned operation of the FrenchCommissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA). Thesystem of French nuclear power generation, as well as theFrench nuclear weapons program, is dependent on uranium mined at Arlit.[4]Orano Cycle alone employs 1600 foreign nationals on the site.[5][needs update]
In 2017, 2,116 tonnes of uranium were extracted from the Arlit mines[6] and exported to France via truck to the seaport atCotonou,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 theUranium 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 theshanty 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 theTuareg 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.[7]
On a macroeconomic scale, Arlit can be said to suffer fromDutch 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, andAreva NC has especially been accused of a disregard for health and environmental conditions around its operations.[8] The French NGOCommission 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.[9]
In the build-up to thewar in Iraq there wascontroversy over allegations in 2003 thatSaddam Hussein was seeking to purchase uranium from Arlit.[citation needed]
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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]
The United States has operated a military base in Arlit since approximately 2015.[10][11][12]
Arlit is served byArlit Airport.
In 2005 theBeninese filmmaker,Idrissou Mora-Kpai, produced and directed the filmArlit, 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 authorStephen Davies. The novel is an espionage thriller set in and around the Arlit mine.
More than 25 uranium deposits occur withinMississippian toCretaceous agesandstones. Key structural features are the ArlitFault, andintrusions andring dikes from 480 to 145Ma in age.[13]
Arlit has ahot arid climate (BWh under theKöppen-Geiger system.)
| Climate data for Arlit | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 26.9 (80.4) | 30.1 (86.2) | 34.3 (93.7) | 38.6 (101.5) | 41.2 (106.2) | 41.5 (106.7) | 39.8 (103.6) | 38.6 (101.5) | 39 (102) | 37 (99) | 32.3 (90.1) | 28.4 (83.1) | 35.6 (96.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 18.8 (65.8) | 21.7 (71.1) | 25.9 (78.6) | 30.5 (86.9) | 33.4 (92.1) | 34.2 (93.6) | 32.8 (91.0) | 31.9 (89.4) | 31.8 (89.2) | 29.3 (84.7) | 24.2 (75.6) | 20.5 (68.9) | 27.9 (82.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 10.8 (51.4) | 13.3 (55.9) | 17.5 (63.5) | 22.4 (72.3) | 25.7 (78.3) | 27 (81) | 25.9 (78.6) | 25.3 (77.5) | 24.6 (76.3) | 21.6 (70.9) | 16.1 (61.0) | 12.7 (54.9) | 20.2 (68.5) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.0) | 1 (0.0) | 5 (0.2) | 11 (0.4) | 18 (0.7) | 5 (0.2) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 41 (1.5) |
| Source:Climate-Data.org, altitude: 429 metres or 1,407 feet[14] | |||||||||||||
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.
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.
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