Niger

Uranium sets Niger's place on the critical-minerals map. The sedimentary Tim Mersoï basin in the Agadez region hosts the uranium that SOMAÏR has mined around Arlit for decades, and the large Imouraren uranium deposit, whose operating permit the state withdrew. Neither has a reported rare-earth product.

The national mineral inventory lists rare earths as unevaluated in two belts: the Liptako in Tillabéry region and the Aïr massif in Agadez region. USGS lists no rare-earth production or reserves for Niger.

Since the military takeover, the state has withdrawn major uranium permits and moved to nationalize SOMAÏR over the objections of its French co-owner, Orano. It also amended the mining law. The state news agency says the changes raised fees and royalties and reserved semi-mechanized mining and mineral trading for majority Nigerien-owned firms.

Those terms would shape any rare-earth play. The open question for an explorer in the Aïr or the Liptako is how those terms, and the state's recent treatment of uranium permits, would bear on financing a discovery.