The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire on Tuesday called on the mining giant Glencore and the Northern province of New Caledonia, shareholders of the Koniambo Nickel SAS (KNS) factory in great difficulty, to “take their responsibilities” to avoid its closure .
The Koniambo Nickel SAS ferronickel production plant, a flagship project for economic rebalancing between the North and South provinces of the French Pacific archipelago, has never been profitable and has a colossal debt of nearly 14 billion euros.
The Northern Province is a 51% shareholder and Glencore, which alone bears the financial losses, is 49%.
At the end of 2024, Glencore announced its intention to mothball the site, which would put some of its 1,300 employees out of work.
“We are not going to subsidize at a loss”
“I made proposals to Glencore.
We proposed 60 million euros in subsidies on the price of energy, 45 million euros in additional resources, a loan of 100 million: 200 million euros for the only factory in the north to guarantee its sustainability in the form of of public support,” he said during the government questions session at the National Assembly.
“Now it’s up to the shareholders to take their responsibilities.
We will not go any further and we will not subsidize at a loss: Glencore and the Northern province have their responsibilities to take,” he continued, assuring that “the State has taken its own”.
Before the deputies, Bruno Le Maire, however, assured that he “believes in the future of the nickel sector in New Caledonia”, which represents almost a quarter of the archipelago's private jobs and 20% of its gross domestic product (GDP). ) but is weighed down by the combination of falling prices, expensive energy and increased foreign competition.
A pact to revive the sector
A “nickel pact”, supposed to revive the sector, is currently in negotiations to save the three factories in the archipelago (KNS, SLN and Prony Ressources), heavily in debt.
The Minister of the Economy recalled the government's conditions, in particular that elected officials agree to export part of the ore - a profitable activity - instead of transforming it on site and that industrialists undertake to develop and invest in factories. .
The State would commit to modernizing the Caledonian electricity network to lower the price of energy.
“I call on all elected officials to sign this draft agreement on which we have been working for several weeks,” reaffirmed Bruno Le Maire.
“Our objective is for discussions on the nickel pact to end by the end of the month,” said the Ministry of the Economy.