LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Niger: Niger Uranium
built 648 days ago
Niger Uranium's 2007-2008 field program at Irhazer and In Gall commenced in November, according to a quarterly filing issued in late December by the company. Work will be completed in stages, with the first phase scheduled to include 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) of diamond drilling to test prospective targets located along structures that host existing uranium mines. The second phase is designed to follow-up on earlier results and is scheduled to include up to 24,600 feet (7,500 meters) of additional drilling.
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Niger'[S] primary connection to modern American politics is due to the controversy surrounding President George W. Bush's claim in his 2003 State of the Union speech that Saddam Hussein was attempting to acquire uranium from an unnamed African country. That claim was based on a report that Iraq had attempted to negotiate the purchase of uranium from Niger; the report had been investigated and found false by three different American officials, including former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had begun his diplomatic career with a posting to Niger. The Niger uranium controversy grew more heated when Wilson publicized that the Bush administration had already known the reports were false prior to the claim being made; the controversy was later eclipsed by the "Plamegate" scandal when the Bush administration retaliated against Wilson for doing so.
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Niger, one of the world's poorest countries, expects growth in the mining sector to boost its economy by 4.1% in 2008, despite a rebel uprising that has turned its uranium-rich north into a military zone. Despite the unrest, the government aims to more than double the country's output of uranium within the next four years as new Chinese- and French-run mines come on line. [Reuters 06/10/07]
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The annual cost of Niger's imports usually is considerably higher than the value of its exports. The leading imports are foodstuffs, machinery, vehicles and parts, petroleum, and cereals; the chief exports are uranium ore, livestock products, cowpeas, onions, and cotton. The principal trade partners are France, the United States, and Nigeria.
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Niger is the poorest country in the world, ranking last on the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Index. It is a landlocked, sub-Saharan nation, whose economy centers on subsistence crops, livestock, and some of the world's largest uranium deposits. Drought cycles, desertification, a 2.9% population growth rate, and the drop in world demand for uranium have undercut the economy.
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One of the poorest countries in the world, Niger's economy is based largely on subsistence farming, livestock, and some of the world's largest uranium deposits. Drought cycles, desertification, a 3.3% population growth rate, and the drop in world demand for uranium have undercut an already marginal economy. Traditional subsistence farming, herding, small trading, seasonal migration, and informal markets dominate an economy that generates few formal sector jobs.
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