Niger and Atomic Eagle sign a convention to revive the Madaouela project
Serguey Asael Shinder2 min readThe Republic of Niger and Atomic Eagle have signed a Mining Convention for the Madaouela uranium project near Arlit, World Nuclear News reports, formalising a framework agreement announced in August and clearing the way for the project to resume. The convention was signed in Niamey by the company's chief executive, Phil Hoskins, and Niger's Minister of Mines and is effective from signing.
The agreement is the end of a dispute that began after Niger's 2023 coup. Vancouver-based GoviEx Uranium had worked on Madaouela since 2007, taking it to a feasibility study in late 2022 and investing about USD160 million. In 2024 the new government withdrew its mining rights. GoviEx launched international arbitration under the ICSID Convention in December 2024, arguing that Niger had breached the 2007 mining convention; both sides suspended the case in January 2025 while they negotiated. GoviEx merged with Tombador Iron in November 2025 to form the Australian-listed Atomic Eagle.
Under the new convention, the operating company, Madaouela Mining Company SA, is 60% owned by Atomic Eagle and 40% by the Republic of Niger, and will hold the exploitation permit. The convention provides legal, fiscal and regulatory stabilisation, sets a framework for future financing and offtake, and has an initial ten-year term with renewal provisions. Atomic Eagle will take steps to discontinue the arbitration and has agreed to pay an initial USD5 million within 30 days.
Madaouela's resources were estimated at 116.5 million pounds of U3O8 under the Canadian NI 43-101 standard; the Australian exchange treats that as a foreign estimate, and the company aims to report a JORC-compliant resource by the end of 2026.
What it means
Uranium supply is concentrated in a few countries, and Niger has been one of them. Since 2023, the government has reshaped foreign participation in its mining sector, and this agreement shows the terms on which a Western-linked company can return: a large state stake, a fresh convention and the withdrawal of legal claims.
For fuel markets, the signing is a step, not supply. The project still needs a compliant resource estimate, financing and offtake before any uranium is produced. What it removes is the legal uncertainty that made those steps impossible.