An agreement between the Republic of Niger and Africa-focused uranium exploration and development company Atomic Eagle was reached in August to re-establish the company’s interest in the Madaouela uranium project located near Arlit, in the Agadez region of northern Niger.

The Madaouela project was expropriated by the Niger government from previous holder mineral resource development company GoviEx Uranium in 2024.

The government of Niger withdrew Canada-based GoviEx’s mining rights for Madaoulea after a 2023 coup d'état and change of government in the African country.

GoviEx subsequently launched international arbitration proceedings, but both parties agreed to suspend these in January 2025 as negotiations continued.

GoviEx later merged with Tombador Iron, in November 2025, to create Atomic Eagle.

“Re-establishing our interest in Madaouela represents a transformational outcome for Atomic Eagle, significantly increasing our resource base and adding a second advanced uranium project to our project portfolio,” says Atomic Eagle CEO Phil Hoskins.

He adds that Madaouela is a big, high-grade uranium asset supported by an extensive body of historical work, and Atomic Eagle sees clear opportunities to further define and optimise the project’s development potential.

Hoskins says the agreement between Atomic Eagle and the Republic of Niger was achieved through constructive engagement with the government of Niger and delivers a “strong, commercially balanced outcome following a period of dispute”.

Historical Rights

Under the structure of the newly agreed mining convention between Atomic Eagle and the Niger government, the Madaouela exploitation permit is granted to the newly incorporated Nigerien subsidiary, Madaouela Mining Company (MAMICO), with Atomic Eagle holding a 60% interest and the State holding 40%.

“The agreed framework provides long-term tenure security, a clear ownership structure, internationally recognised dispute resolution mechanisms and a commercially pragmatic pathway to re-establish Atomic Eagle’s interest in a large uranium development project,” says Atomic Eagle in a statement.

Atomic Eagle will retain operational control of MAMICO and the conduct of mining operations, subject to the agreed governance framework.

The company has agreed payments of $5-million, payable within 30 days of the issuance of an exploitation permit, and a further $5-million payable at the start of construction.

The Niger government has the right to purchase and market a portion of production up to its shareholding in MAMICO, and under certain circumstances may exercise pre-emption rights or requisition up to 50% of the mine’s output; however the government’s rights cannot interfere with binding offtake contracts already entered by MAMICO, says Atomic Eagle in a state- ment.

The arbitration will be withdrawn within seven days of signing the mining convention.

Madaouela has an estimated measured and indicated mineral resource of 49.5- million kilogrammes of triuranium octoxide at a concentration of 1 275 parts per million (ppm) and an inferred resource of 8.89- million kilogrammes of triuranium octoxide at 1 330 ppm.

The company has already started resource verification and technical optimisation work, and intends to upgrade the estimate to Australasian standards later this year.