Traditional

Landowners receive discount to take over Naked nickel mine

landowners of the Naketi nickel mine (north of Noumea) have obtained a further discount on the price they’ll have to pay to take over the site

from affluent Ballande group of com panies, but tension on the site is still high, RFO-radio reported.

“We were a little bit apprehensive after what happened last weekend, we thought the landowners wouldn’t turn up. They did and it’s a good sign,” Ballande industries mining director Jean-Jacques Nekito said.

In July, Ballande announced it would sell its Naketi exploitation to SMN (Societe des Mines de Naketi) for a “symbolic Franc”, with a clause to pay off the company’s assets in kind with future nickel productions.

At a meeting early August, Bal lande offered that the company’s assets, valued at some 360 million

CFP (US$3.6 million) at their replace ment worth to date, be estimated at their accounting, depreciated value only, thus bringing down the cost by 30 per cent.

But Wilfrid Mai’s MKM (Mai Kouaoua Mines), another mining com pany that intended to work on the same site, was told to leave and offered small contracts elsewhere in New Caledonia. Since July, tensions between the two companies have esca lated, causing roadblocks and the destruction of houses and machinery.

A group of youngsters from the vil lage attacked the MKM camp and burnt down barracks and industrial

machinery on the MKM min ing site waiting to be disman tled. The camp has been ran sacked, front doors smashed, equipment burnt. And on Monday night trucks win dows were smashed again,”

MKM director Alain Vasseur

said. Gendarmes from nearby Canala arrested someone involved in the van dalism, but they later had to release him after being caught in a roadblock.

“Law and order is no longer there,”

Vasseur complained.

A trench had to be dug to bar access to all vehicles on the MKM camp, until the company removes some 400million CFP worth of equipment.

“We’re being kicked out, we accept to leave and on top of that, we should go and leave our machinery?,”

Vasseur asks. Mining activities on the Nakety site have been paralysed for the last three and a half months. (PINA Nius Online) ■