PARIS, Nov 15 – Morocco’s state-owned phosphate producer OCP is holding talks with French energy companies EDF and Orano over a potential agreement to produce and supply uranium concentrate to France, according to a report by French newspaper Le Monde.
The three companies could formalize their cooperation through a memorandum of understanding during King Mohammed VI’s planned state visit to Paris in January 2027. France is also seeking to sign its first friendship treaty with Morocco during the visit.
The discussions began shortly after French President Emmanuel Macron visited Rabat in October 2024, following the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
According to Le Monde, EDF declined to comment on the negotiations, while Orano confirmed that it was pursuing a strategy to diversify its uranium supply sources.
Under the proposed arrangement, OCP could begin producing uranium concentrate, commonly known as yellowcake, in 2028 at a new facility near Jorf Lasfar, where the company operates a major industrial complex.
Uranium occurs naturally in phosphate rock and can be recovered during phosphoric acid production. OCP aims to produce sufficient phosphoric acid by 2030 to extract uranium quantities capable of supplying around 15 nuclear power plants.
The proposed project could establish Morocco as a significant African uranium supplier to France, which has sought to diversify its sources following the disruption of its previous supply relationship with Niger.
France previously sourced uranium from Niger but ended purchases after the 2023 military coup and Orano’s subsequent loss of control over its local operations. Namibia has since become one of France’s uranium supply sources.
Morocco’s renewed uranium ambitions
The latest discussions revive a long-standing effort by Morocco and France to develop the country’s uranium resources.
In 2007, during a visit by former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Areva, now known as Orano, and OCP agreed to cooperate on uranium extraction. The project did not advance to production.
At the time, Areva cited estimates from the International Atomic Energy Agency suggesting that Morocco’s phosphate deposits could contain nearly six million tonnes of uranium, approximately twice the world’s known uranium resources at the time.
Interest in the country’s uranium potential dates back even further. France and the United States explored the resource before Morocco gained independence in 1956.
In 1978, King Hassan II informed US President Jimmy Carter of plans to develop uranium extraction using technology from American nuclear company Westinghouse. That initiative also failed to materialise.
Morocco subsequently supplied uranium through Belgium’s Prayon, in which OCP holds a stake. Over a period of more than two decades, Prayon recovered nearly 700 tonnes of yellowcake before ending production because of high extraction costs.
At the time, recovering uranium from phosphoric acid cost nearly three times its market price, making the process commercially unviable.
Higher prices renew interest in phosphate-based uranium extraction
Rising uranium prices and improvements in extraction technology have renewed interest in recovering the mineral from phosphate processing.
An OCP source told Le Monde that the company’s current extraction methods could make production profitable. The source also described a recent small-scale yellowcake production test as successful.
If the proposed cooperation proceeds, the project would give OCP an additional commercial use for its phosphate processing operations while providing French nuclear companies with another potential source of uranium supply.
The discussions remain at the negotiation stage, however, with the proposed memorandum of understanding expected to provide a framework for cooperation. Production plans, commercial terms and the scale of future supply have yet to be formally established.
