The Goro Nickel company has announced that it has suspended work to build New Caledonia's second nickel smelter.
This comes after more protests against the project and follows a blockade of the site which was lifted on Monday.
All foreign workers, including engineers and technical staff have been taken to Noumea.
More than a hundred of them have already left New Caledonia.
It's not known when work will resume on the project which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
