The Swiss miner Xstrata has confirmed that despite the global financial crisis New Caledonia's Koniambo project will go ahead as planned.
The vice president of Xstrata Nickel, Dominique Dionne, says her company has already spent one billion US dollars on the planned nickel smelter and there is no question of pulling back.
Mrs Dionne says Xstrata won't need to source more finance as it has a secure five-billion US dollar credit line.
Speaking in Noumea, she says Xstrata is focussed on getting the plant operational by 2011 without cost overruns.
She says although there has been a drop in the price of nickel, she is confident that its price will go up in 2010.
