Leaders of the indigenous people of New Caledonia, the Kanak, have denounced the government’s failure to carry out consultations for a new nickel mining operation in Prony, in the South Province. Kanak spokesman Raphael Mapou says that the government is required by the Noumea Accord of April 21, 1998 to consult the Kanak people on mining projects.
New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France since 1956, ranks third in the world in nickel production, which comprises more than 90 percent of the country’s exports. More than 20 percent of the wold’s nickel deposits are located in the tiny island territory. Control of resources in New Caledonia is highly contested, as are labor issues, which has resulted in ongoing strikes and agitation over the course of the colonial period. The Noumea Accord, signed between the pro-independence coalition FLNKS (Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste), the anti-independence political majority RPCR (Rassamblement pour la Caledonie dans la Republique) and the French government, has reduced these activities in recent years.
The project at Prony, which is being conducted by Inco Ltd., a Canadian mining company, follows hard on the heels of government approval of a similar Inco project at Goro. A $1.4 billion nickel plant at Goro will be operational in 2004, despite concerns of Kanak leaders that mining operations will have adverse environmental, social and cultural impacts on their people, who number about 80,000.
The Prony and Goro operations are not Inco’s first run-in with indigenous peoples, however. In February 2001, the Jaringan Advokasi Tambang Indonesian Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM) sent a letter to Indonesian president Megawati Soekarnoputri on behalf of indigenous communities in the central Sulawase province of Indonesia. In the letter, JATAM expressed concern over human rights violations and environmental damage at a local Inco mine.
In Canada, after the government decided that mining operations in Voisey’s Bay could proceed without an Impact and Benefits Agreement (IBA), the Innu people went to the Federal Court of Canada. In June, Inco finalized Impacts and Benefits Agreements (IBAs) with the Labrador Inuit Association (LIA) and Innu Nation concerning mining in the region.
In November 2001, four Kanak representatives visited Canada in order to meet with Innu representatives as well as Inco officials in regards to the Goro operation. In a radio interview, George Mandaway a tribal chief, and Jackie Mamood, an environmentalist, said that they had not found company officials to be forthcoming with information on the New Caledonian projects.
At present, the provincial government has granted prospecting rights to Inco at Prony.
