During the last Council of Ministers meeting, the Nigerien government adopted draft decrees terminating establishment agreements between the State of Niger and several gold refining companies. These are Compagnie des Mines du Niger (COMINI SARL), AFRIOR SA, and ECOMINE SA.

Commitments not met

The military in power accuse these three companies of not having respected their commitments. Indeed, under the terms of the three agreements, COMINI SARL, AFRIOR SA and ECOMINE SA, each committed themselves, within their respective areas of responsibility, to contribute to the financing of local development plans, to contribute to mining promotion, to give priority to employing Nigerien staff, to respect the environmental standards in force, to pay all the taxes and duties provided for and to provide the Ministry of Mines, at the end of each accounting period, with an annual technical and financial report.

The minutes of the Council of Ministers state that the above-listed commitments have not been honored since 2023. This prompted the government to send formal notices to these three companies on February 17, 2025 and July 23, 2025.

Only "ECOMINE SA, after the second formal notice, provided partial compliance amounting to a breach of contract justifying termination." "Regarding the other two companies, namely COMINI SARL and AFRIOR SA, the withdrawal of mining permits for the former and the failure to comply with applicable mining regulations for the latter result in the forfeiture of their commitments," states the press release from the Council of Ministers.