There are statistics that do not pass. While payments from Proni Resources, a factory located in the south of the Caledonian archipelago, could end as early as February, the company is no longer paying its electricity bills or its social charges in an effort to keep the activity going, raw materials. Trader Trafigura, a 19% shareholder in the industrial complex, will earn 126 million euros in 2023 from the sale of nickel produced by the factory, for which it has exclusive marketing rights, according to figures put forward by the General Union of Industrial Workers. New Caledonia (SGTI-NC). The factory would have lost more than 210 million euros at the same time.
Blame? The unbalanced shareholders’ agreement ensures the assembly (non-independence) of Caledo, for the benefit of Trafigura, whose president, Philippe Gomes, does not hesitate to speak. “Disaster, when three years ago, we were sold a new model of mining with great fanfare.” If, in New Caledonia, nickel is always political, the South Factory, the scene of violent clashes against the backdrop of the referendum campaign in late 2020, is the most sensitive issue.
The survival of the factory and the return to a peaceful social environment is only due to the creation of a system allowing the ownership of the site, in 2021. “51% Caledonian Interest”, including public authorities. In charge, the president of the southern province, Sonia Backse (The Loyalist, Non-Independence), a close enemy of Philip Gomes, who today finds himself on the front line to save what can be saved. In a joint press release issued on Friday, Southern Province, State and Proni Resources announced that they a “New Industrial Partner”.
“Profit of 740 million euros”
Trafigura is not the only shareholder being singled out. French group Eramet, the majority shareholder of Société Le Nickel (SLN), New Caledonia’s nickel pioneer and the country’s largest private employer, is also in the crosshairs of the SGTI-NC union. “Aramet made a profit of 740 million euros in 2022 but now does not want to finance the subsidiary that, historically, took it to the top”Confront SGTI-NC union delegate Glenn Delathier at SLN, who refers to the prosperous years that allowed the French group to invest heavily in Indonesia, the new nickel El Dorado that today competes with Caledonian production, while SLN also saw. Withholding of payment.
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