KNS shutdown, a catastrophe foretold for the Northern Province | EUROtoday

The administration of Koniambo Nickel SAS introduced on Friday, July 26, the dismissal of its 1,200 workers. The firm, which enabled the event of the northern a part of the archipelago, which was in nice issue, has not but discovered a purchaser. A tough blow, whereas the territory is going through an unprecedented disaster.

The six-month deadline given by Glencore, its primary shareholder, is not going to have been sufficient. The metallurgical plant, dormant since February, will shut its doorways on August 31. And the staff will be a part of the roughly 600 subcontractors already unemployed. A disaster for New Caledonia, the place the violence, which started in mid-May, in opposition to a backdrop of protests over a reform of the electoral physique, has already destroyed greater than 700 corporations and put one in 4 workers out of labor or on partial unemployment, for a price estimated at a minimal of two.2 billion euros.

The difficulties of KNS, often known as the Northern Factory, are usually not new. The firm, which has by no means been worthwhile, has a colossal legal responsibility of 13.5 billion euros. A debt totally supported by Glencore, which determined in February to throw within the towel. A 49% shareholder in KNS, the Anglo-Swiss group assumed all the losses, underneath the shareholders' settlement that binds it to the Société minière du Sud Pacifique, which represents the pursuits of the Northern Province.

A growth engine

Because KNS is above all a political undertaking, envisaged in 1966 by General de Gaulle to develop a Northern province that had remained on the fringes of the territory's financial development, regardless of high-value ore deposits: the Tiébaghi ​​massif, one of many cradles of mining in New Caledonia, and Koniambo, which was not exploited on the time, however which incorporates 25% of the territory's nickel reserves. The Bercy settlement in 1997 ratified the Northern plant undertaking, development of which started in 2010.

And, when it comes to rebalancing with the Southern Province, KNS has been successful. The Voh-Koné-Pouembout city space, the place the plant is situated, now has greater than 4,000 corporations, in comparison with 2,500 in 2005. The financial advantages are monumental: 5 billion euros since 2005.

An indication of the world's attractiveness, the inhabitants of the three municipalities elevated from 9,685 inhabitants in 2009 to 13,752 within the 2019 census, whereas on the identical time, New Caledonia was shedding inhabitants. A growth that may very well be stopped useless with out the KNS engine.

“A domino effect” feared

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