French nuclear giant Areva renewed its deal on uranium prices with Niger on Sunday in a bid to restore ties broken by accusations that the giant was financing a rebel group.
Under the deal, Areva will fix uranium prices for the next two years and allow production worth 1.5 billion U.S. dollars to begin at the Imouraren site.
The Niger government deported a local manager of Areva in July and put an end to Areva's monopoly in the sector amid allegations that the French company was financing a Tuareg rebel group in an alleged bid to discourage competitors.
According to the company's website, the Imouraren site is expected to start up production at the end of 2010 and will enable Niger to be the second-largest uranium-producing nation in the world with almost 5,000 tons of uranium production annually.
