Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

Chapter 2.2: Challenges at the National Policy Level
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Mining areas of New Caledonia in 2004
New Caledonia possesses great mineral wealth, with up to 25 percent
of global nickel deposits. Other resources include cobalt, manganese,
copper, platinum, gold and gas. Around 90 percent of the value of New
Caledonia’s exports comes from mining and metallurgical products.
There has been nickel mining on New Caledonia for almost one and a
half centuries, which has had primacy over agriculture. It was mining that
led to the establishment of white colonists, and the mining town of Thio
had electricity and running water long before the capital Noumea. The
production profited from every European war scare and in the 1880s, New
Caledonia briefly enjoyed a virtual world monopoly of nickel production,
with processing starting in 1910.
The world price of nickel fluctuates a great deal, and the mining economy
has experienced a series of slumps, which revealed the dangers of overreliance
on one productive sector. Canadian producers challenged New
Caledonian nickel in the early 1900s, which combined with a down-turn in
steel production, led to a global glut, which meant the nickel price fell by
a half. The colony’s stability now relies on such external factors. Recent
world nickel demand, however, has led to plans to construct new mines
and processing plants.
There are three major mining companies and five “small miners” operating
in New Caledonia. The three majors are Société le Nickel (SLN), a