The construction costs of a nickel plant being built in New Caledonia by Swiss miner Xstrata and local firm SMSP have jumped by more than 1 billion dollars.
The president of Koniambo Nickel SAS, Peter Hancock, says that cost overruns would see the total bill for the Koniambo plant in the French Pacific territory reach 5 billion dollars, up from a previous estimate of 3.85 billion.
The original forecast had stood since the project was launched in 2007.