Africa Factbook

Niger Uranium Mines Niger has two significant uranium mines providing nearly 8 percent of world mining production from Africa highest-grade uranium ores. Niger is the fourth-ranking producer of uranium in the world Niger is a landlocked nation, whose economy centers on subsistence crops, livestock, and some of the world's largest uranium deposits. The discovery of the element is credited to the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth in Berlin in 1789. Uranium is a chemical element with symbol U and atomic number 92. Uranium is regularly found in very small amounts in rocks, soil, water, plants, and animals and humans.  In nature, uranium is found as mostly as uranium-238 and uranium-235. Uranium metal is very dense and heavy therefore Uranium decays slowly with a half-life of about 4.47 billion years for uranium-238 and uranium-235 are 704 million years.  The main use of uranium in the private citizen sector is to fuel nuclear power plants. Uranium metal is very dense and he