Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

New Caledonia provinces set to get bigger nickel stake

Posted at 04:22 on 29 May, 2007 UTC

New Caledonia’s three provinces are likely to raise their respective stake in the French SLN nickel company.

The three provinces, which are formed into a legal entity called STCPI are expected to get their new shares increase at SLN’s next Board meeting on July 23rd.

Local media reports say this would bring their total share of the stock from the current 30 percent to 34 percent.

The transaction would materialise through a transfer of shares from the SLN parent company, Eramet, to STCPI.

For the past three years, SLN, which is the the territory’s only nickel producer, has undertaken an programme to boost its total yearly production to 75,000 tonnes of nickel.