10 Nov 2010

Nickel industry gathering in New Caledonia next week

9:21 am on 10 November 2010

More than 300 nickel industry leaders and analysts are to gather in New Caledonia next week to assess the current state of the market, heavily dependent on Chinese economic growth.

All the major players are expected to attend the talks, notably the French group Eramet, Vale of Brazil, Xstrata of Switzerland, Norilsk of Russia and the Anglo-Australian group BHP Billiton.

Efforts by nickel producers to emerge from the global economic crisis and prospects for Chinese economic momentum are expected to dominate discussion.

New Caledonia, which possesses a quarter of the world's nickel reserves, is expected to become the world's second largest producer, turning out more than 200,000 tonnes a year.