Interior and Overseas Minister Gérald Darmanin called on Saturday in Nouméa for a review of the struggling nickel production sector in New Caledonia, the main employer in this French Pacific territory.
“We see that the factories and the economic model do not work very well, despite the courage of the employees,” Gérald Darmanin observed to the press after a visit to the Société Le Nickel (SLN) factory.
With almost a quarter of the world’s nickel reserves, New Caledonia has three nickel works, all of which have been running significant deficits for almost ten years.
2,000 million euros in aid in 6 years
On February 23, SLN announced a negative net result of around 250 million euros for 2022.
“We will no longer give money to the factories of New Caledonia, knowing that it is not our competition, as long as there is no well-thought-out and well-considered industrial project,” added the minister, recalling that the State had supported the sector until the end. a sum of 2,000 million euros in the last six years.
His visit, during a stay at the Caillou to relaunch political debates on the future of the territory, comes after the allocation of new state aid to SLN, a subsidiary of the Eramet group, through a loan of 40 million euros.
This loan must ensure the survival of the company, on the brink of insolvency, by the year 2023.
A mission commissioned by the government is due to travel to New Caledonia in the coming days to draw up an economic, social and environmental inventory of the activity and propose a “new deal” for the sector by the end of 2023.
Sovereignty
Gérald Darmanin recalled on Saturday its importance for the future of New Caledonia. “The question of nickel sovereignty for our country arises in general, as well as New Caledonia’s place in this sovereignty,” he said.
SLN is the world’s leading producer of ferronickel, one of the components of stainless steel. Most of its production is now exported to Asia.
The Minister’s visit took place in a context of social tensions. An agreement concluded on Friday night between the management and the inter-union suspended the application of a savings plan contested by the staff and allowed the situation to calm down.
Staff representatives wonder about the intentions of the Eramet group in New Caledonia. The manufacturer has made massive investments in the Weda Bay nickel project in Indonesia, focused on the production of nickel for batteries.
Source: BFM TV
