The New Caledonian nickel company, Goro Nickel, says it is appealing the administrative court's decision to cancel a exploration permit it had for a potential new source of nickel.
Goro Nickel's spokesperson, Catherine Guillaume, says the company is interested in an adjacent site on the Massif de Prony.
She says they hope this may keep their operation going once the Goro nickel is depleted in about 50 years time.
Ms Guillaume says Goro Nickel got permission to research the area a couple of years ago, but the administrative court has since cancelled the permit.
"We obtained this research permit from the administration. And this permit has been cancelled by the court because the local administration did not follow the procedure to give us the permit. We put an appeal on this decision, that means we asked the administrative court to review its position on this."
