GORO-TIEBAGHI

Reported that the project will have an estimated production capacity of 60,000 metric tons per year of finished nickel and 4,600 metric tons of cobalt. Work is due to be completed at the end of 2008.

An ongoing strike in the French Overseas Territory of New Caledonia, primarily over the employment of Filipino workers on the construction of Inco’s Goro Nickel operation, has been seriously impacting that country’s nickel exports, reports Mineweb. The strike has been going on for three weeks now and has forced the country’s principal nickel producer, Eramet, to suspend firstly its exports to Asia, and more recently its exports of ferronickel to Europe. This is having a knock-on effect on the nickel price. Nickel is already in extremely short supply, with demand exceeding supply and LME stocks extremely low.

Despite analysts' concerns that a small group of protestors managed to shut down the Goro project for three weeks, Inco officials declared Thursday that they have received an outpouring of overall support for the US$1.9 billion nickel project in New Caledonia, reports Mineweb. Meanwhile, Inco's nickel market guru Peter Goudie suggested that nickel may actually benefit from higher copper prices.