New Caledonia’s fight over nickel New Caledonia’s fight over nickel Dec 17, 2020
The young people gathered early in Noumea, preparing for action. Soon the main road along the waterfront in New Caledonia’s capital was blocked with barricades, burning tires and large stones. Riot police moved in, and the next few hours involved running battles between Kanak activists and police, who fired rounds of tear gas and flash balls to disperse crowds of demonstrators.
The clash on 7 December follow a month of meetings, rallies and demonstrations across the French Pacific dependency of New Caledonia. The protests were called by the ‘Usine du Sud = Usine pays’ collective, which unites customary chiefs, environment groups, trade unionists and members of the independence coalition Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS).
December 14, 2020 Share
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific Ocean. Nickel mining is a major sector of the New Caledonian economy. Goro Nickel Plant is one of the largest hydrometallurgical process plants constructed, estimated to cost $3.2bn, with a design capacity of 60,000 tonnes of nickel per annum. It also produces 25% of world nickel reserves.
A deal to sell the Vale Nickel Mine in Goro has sparked protests in New Caledonia. On December 9, Vale announced that its subsidiary Vale Canada Limited (“VCL”) has signed a binding put option agreement for the sale of its ownership interest in Vale Nouvelle-Calédonie S.A.S. Indigenous Kanak leaders and pro-independence parties were in support a bid led by local company Sofinor and they say that the mine’s owner and French government did not follow a transparent bidding process.