New Caledonia's northern nickel project is about to be launched after 110 million US dollars has been earmarked for a re-start of the planned nickel smelter.
The Koniambo Nickel company made the announcement late last week as its new foreign stakeholder, Xstrata of Switzerland, is about to release its latest estimate of the project's costs.
Xstrata said it expected that the planned project would cost an additional 25 to 35 percent over the figure given in earlier estimates of about 2 billion dollars.
The planned Koniambo smelter is a key development for the northern province and backed by France as part of the 1998 Noumea Accord aimed at balancing New Caledonia's economy which is centred on Noumea and the more
affluent southern province.
