New Caledonia nickel plant to resume anytime from tomorrow
The New Caledonia business organisation MEDEF says the Vale nickel processing plant, which has been closed for almost three weeks, will resume operations any time from tomorrow.
Transcript
The New Caledonia business organisation MEDEF says the Vale nickel processing plant, which has been closed for almost three weeks, will resume operations any time from tomorrow.
The Goro plant was temporarily shut down after 100,000 litres of effluent, containing some acid, ended up in a creek.
Some members of the indigenous population are burning tyres and have set up roadblocks on the road to the plant, in a protest to have it shut permanently.
But MEDEF's chief executive, Catherine Wehbe, says if the plant were to close permanently, there would be huge economic and social impacts for the region.
She told Mary Baines some employees have been sent into the plant to set it up for a re-start this week.
CATHERINE WEAHDE: The police has secured to permit the employees of Vale and also some subcontractors to go in the site, and we think that they will secure all that needs to be secured and that they will start again progressively to have an activity.
MARY BAINES: Do you know when that will start again?
CW: We wait for re-implementation, the text of the collectivity, to say it's okay, you can start again. And this should come tomorrow. They're waiting for an expertise of what happened exactly. And normally, if everything is okay, they will authorise Vale to open and restart the activity tomorrow. That is the collectivity of the South Province, who has to authorise the restart. So it's open, but the activity should start again normally tomorrow or on Thursday.
MB: There are some people who are calling for it to be permanently closed. What would be the economic implications of such a closure?
CW: It would be very, very hard and very difficult. Because there is 600 subcontractors working with Vale, there is around 1,600 employees working with the subcontractors, there is 1,300 employees working for Vale, and all these give 40,000 people [the means] to live, with the activity of Vale. So this would be quite dramatic if they closed definitely.
MB: Vale said it would pay employees up until last Monday. Do you know whether people are being paid now, until the plant reopens?
CW: They say that they are going to pay, to still continue to pay. I think this is not a problem now, they will still continue to pay. Everybody hopes that the situation is going to be finished and start again in good condition.
MB: Is there concern that once the plant opens again, those people who are demonstrating against it being opened, do you think there might be more problems?
CW: We don't know. The [indigenous] population from here, they have taken a decision to examine during the next two months what will happen and to be sure that everything is going to be okay, and the organisation and the security will be okay, and then they take a decision in two months to see, with all that's done during these two months, if it is okay to continue or not okay. But the young people which have made all the problems this weekend didn't understand very good, so now they are sticking together. The old people are explaining to the young people what is the deal, what happens and to be quiet. We hope that the young people will stop doing what they are doing and that everybody will be concerned with what's happened a few weeks ago, to be sure that all the processes are secured and to be sure that everything is going to start again normally and taking all the security that needs a place like that.
Numerous requests for comment from Vale and the government of the Southern Province have been unsuccessful.
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