Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for Dasa Uranium Mining Project (DFC-DASA)

Countries
  • Niger
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Agadez, Niger
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
A
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Borrower
Global Atomic Corporation
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Mining
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Amount (USD)
Not Disclosed
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ DFC website

Updated in EWS Mar 4, 2023

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the DFC, the Project involves the mining of uranium at a site which is located near Agadaz in Niger. The surrounding area is sparsely inhabited with no permanent villages within the project’s direct (i.e., 7 km) area of influence. Livestock grazing occurs to a limited extent within the area. The extended (i.e., 15 km) area of influence includes three permanent villages and more extensive livelihood activities.
The DASA Uranium Project is fully permitted for underground mining and construction of supporting infrastructure. Underground mine development and construction of surface infrastructure are currently underway, commercial production is scheduled to begin in early 2025.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

According to the DFC, The Project is screened as Category A because it has significant diverse impacts which are associated with the extraction of uranium from an underground mine and processing of the ore.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Global Atomic Corporation through its wholly owned subsidiary Global Atomic Fuels Corporation owns an 80% interest in SOMIDA S.A. a Nigerein Company; the Government of Niger owns the remaining 20% of SOMIDA. SOMIDA owns the DASA Uranium Project located in Niger, Africa.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Global Atomic Corporation Client Mining
- - - - Global Atomic Fuels Corporation Subsidiary Mining

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

The Project ESIA will be available for review at:

• National Environmental Assessment Office (Bureau National d’Etude d’Impact): Koira Kano, rue KK – 37 BP 578 Niamey, Niger
• BNEE Regional Office c/o the Governor’s Office XXMR+7F8, Agadez, Niger
• BNEE Regional Office c/o Office of the Prefecture 7R9M+WQ5, Tchirozerine, Niger

Client - Global Atomic Corporation:

Address: 8 King Street East, Suite 1700, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 1B5 Canada
Phone: 416-368-3949
Fax: +1 (416) 368-5146
Email: info@globalatomiccorp.com
Website: www.globalatomiccorp.com

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Unlike many other development finance institutions, DFC does not currently have an access to information policy.

Under the United States Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), DFC is obliged to respond to reasonably formulated requests for Agency records. However, DFC may apply exemptions from release to certain types of information and may charge fees in responding to requests. DFC has a designated FOIA officer who is trained in how to respond to requests and implement the law. You can learn more about filing a FOIA request at: https://www.dfc.gov/foia

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORPORATION (DFC)

The Office of Accountability is an independent office that addresses complaints about environmental or social issues related to DFC-supported projects. The office provides communities an opportunity to have concerns independently reviewed and addressed. If you submit a complaint to the Office of Accountability, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a problem solving dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the DFC complied with its policies to prevent environmental, social, human rights, and labor harms.

You can find more information about the Office of Accountability at: https://www.dfc.gov/who-we-are/office-accountability

How it works

How it works