The Goro Nickel company in New Caledonia says construction work on its plant will continue as planned despite an order by a court in France to suspend work on the storage site within 48 hours.
Goro has issued a statement, saying the court decision is only preliminary.
It says it is awaiting a final ruling, saying it appears to be based on arguments that can be challenged in an appeals process.
The reaction came just hours after the injunction ordered Goro Nickel to stop the construction of the waste storage site within 48 hours under threat of a daily 40,000 US dollar fine.
The injunction was issued on request of the Kanak group, Rheebu Nuu, which had sought a complete halt to the two-billion US dollar plant amid fears that discharges from the nickel processing could cause lasting pollution of the land area and the lagoon.
The Goro project currently employs about 3,000 people, including hundreds of Filipinos.
