The New Caledonian Goro Nickel company says construction of its plant is continuing despite a partial court injunction.
The injunction, which was issued two days ago, ordered the company to stop the construction of its waste storage site within 48 hours or it faces a daily 40,000 US dollars fine.
The injunction is based on a petition from the Kanak Rheebu Nuu group that had called for a complete stop to the construction of the plant for environmental reasons.
The company's deputy general manager, Jeff Zweig, says for the time being construction work is unaffected.
"At this point we haven't actually received an official copy of the judgement and we are in the process of assessing its potential impact. But in the meantime, construction at Goro on all fronts is continuing as usual."
Mr Zweig says the ruling is a success, because it dismissed all but one of the claims made by Rheebu Nuu.
Rheebu Nuu, meanwhile, also says it is satisfied with the court order.
