Plans to revive phosphate mining in French Polynesia appear to have come to a halt.
A government decision has been made public, rejecting the bid by an Australian company to explore the viability of starting up mining on the atoll of Makatea in the Tuamotu archipelago.
The company, Avenir Makatea, said it believed that there might possibly remain sufficient phosphate in the old mining areas to allow a feasible mining programme.
The atoll was heavily mined from the late 19th century until 1966.
Tahiti-Infos says the local population was against the resumption of mining amid inconsistencies between the outline of the project and the information given to the landowners.
