Embattled New Caledonia nickel mine to lay off 1,200 staff (RFI – July 26, 2024)

https://www.rfi.fr/en/

The KNS nickel plant – one of three in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia – has announced it will make its 1,200 employees redundant by the end of August in the absence of a “finalised offer” from a buyer.

Koniambo Nickel SAS, which is in serious financial difficulty with a colossal debt of over €13 billion, had been looking for a buyer since the departure last February of the Anglo-Swiss group Glencore – its main shareholder.

KNS said in a press release on Friday: “While the search for a buyer is continuing actively and three groups continue to show an interest in our company … we have neither a finalised offer nor visibility on the financing of the operations”.

“As a result, we are obliged to continue the process of collective redundancies for economic reasons,” KNS added. According to management, the 1,200 employees will be made redundant on 31 August. Around 50 of them will stay on after that date, “to ensure that the site remains on cold standby”.

Debt management

The KNS site – one of the main employers in New Caledonia – has also relied on subcontractors employing some 500 people.

For the rest of this article: https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20240726-embattled-new-caledonia-nickel-mine-kns-to-lay-off-1-200-staff