In New Caledonia, there is hardly a problem that does not come directly or indirectly from nickel, or that does not lead back to it. Grande Terre, the main island of the archipelago, today under a state of emergency, declared after several nights of violence, contains between 20% and 30% of the world’s reserves and produces 8% of processed nickel. But the sector of this ore, discovered in 1864 in the Melanesian archipelago and very volatile on the London Metal Exchange, the London stock market devoted to metals, has been going through a crisis with serious social repercussions for more than ten years.
“Nickel flows from the range and the massifs, it also flows through the veins of New Caledonians and makes their hearts beat. It is part of their life, their history and their destinysummed up Joël Viratelle, when he directed the Maison de la Nouvelle-Calédonie in Paris. “Green gold” has always been an essential element of the economic health of New Caledonia. » But also “the key to “rebalancing” and sharing the wealth resulting from the Matignon agreements [1988] then from Nouméa [1998] », he added. So many disappointed hopes, which explain the demonstrations and the current blocking of sites.
This sector provides a quarter of direct and indirect jobs. The ore is also crucial for the downstream of the industrial chain, since it is used in the composition of stainless steel and automobile batteries. But its price fell by 45% in 2023 and continues to deteriorate, even though the International Energy Agency predicts a tripling of demand in the next twenty years. In its second annual report on metals, published Friday May 17, it even warns that “the fall in prices masks the risk of future supply tensions”.
Factories shut down
Alas, the New Caledonian nickel landscape is devastated. Production fell 32% in the first quarter. The French group Eramet recorded a 50% drop in sales due to the continuing difficulties of its subsidiary Société Le Nickel (SNL), the largest local employer. “Despite good operational performance, [elle] continues to be structurally deficit due to the price of energy, access to resources and the cost of labor”, explained the CEO of Eramet in February. Christel Bories ended up concluding, at the beginning of March, an agreement with the government to clean up its balance sheet: the State loans to SLN (320 million) and the intra-group debt (325 million) will be converted into an instrument of “quasi-equity”.
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