> France needs to maintain boots on the ground in Africa to protect their uranium mines

It seems rather coincidental to me that one of the countries where France has military presence happens to be a minor uranium producer (we're talking about Niger here I assume).

France has military presence in many more countries, and Niger is (or was, since there was a coup there recently) only a supplier for 1/5th of France's supply, and easy replaced with other sources. None of the other suppliers have French military bases.

Uranium is also very easy to stockpile since it takes little space, which makes it much easier to switch suppliers if needed.