France-based uranium company Areva is set to commence its production at the Imouraren mine in Niger during the second quarter of fiscal 2015.
Commenting on the developments Areva mining senior executive vice president Olivier Wantz told Bloomberg that the company had spoken to the corresponding authorities regarding the safety issues in the northeast of the country.
"We will start production at Imouraren mine in mid-2015," Wantz confirmed.
The production in the mine was due to start in 2012, but was postponed repeatedly because of security concerns; In 2010, suspected members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb kidnapped some of Areva’s employees.
Areva added that it will be paying XAF23bn ($$45.49m) to Niger as a penalty of delaying the production operations.
The company, meanwhile, remains hopeful of doubling its production in the country through the Imouraren mine.