French nuclear giant Areva said on Wednesday it was suspending a mining project in the Central African Republic for "a year or two" because of a drop in uranium prices since the Fukushima disaster.

Work on developing the Bakouma mine, which is estimated to hold about 32,000 tonnes of uranium, has been suspended until the market value of the commodity rises again, an Areva spokesman told AFP.

"But this does not consist of abandoning the project," the spokesman said.

A massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11 sparked an atomic emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, leading some countries to cancel or put on hold their nuclear power programmes.

The price of uranium subsequently dropped by around 30 percent, at a time when Areva was hoping for a global nuclear power renaissance.

On Wednesday the price of a pound (450 grams) of uranium was at $52, down from $68 in March before the accident.

"We are convinced that the conditions of the uranium market will become propitious again in the next two years, once the impact of Fukushima has passed," Areva's vice-president in charge of mining, Sebastien de Montessus, said in a statement.

"This is a promising deposit, with significant potential resources," he said.

About 170 people are employed at the site and Areva said most jobs would be maintained.

Areva began development works at the mine under a deal signed in 2007 and to date has spent 70 billion CFA francs (106.7 million euros) on developing the site.

The 2007 deal ended friction between Areva and the country's authorities, who had handed mining rights to British-Canadian firm UraMin in 2006.

Areva bought out UraMin in July 2007 to the displeasure of the government, which said the "irregular" sale showed "disregard for the rights and interests" of the Central African people.

The mine is considered an important potential source for Areva, but has far fewer reserves, for example, than the more than 100,000 estimated tonnes at the company's giant Imouraren mine in Niger.

Areva is expected to present a plan next month on a rethink of its corporate strategies in the wake of the Japanese disaster.

In mid-afternoon, Areva shares on the Paris stock exchange were up 0.47 percent to 20.21 euros.