New Caledonian leaders are set to ask France to increase the local stake in the Goro Nickel project whose costs have risen to 3.5 billion US
dollars.
The deal between New Caledonia and the Brazilian majority investor, CVRD, provided for a 10 percent stake for the three New Caledonian
provinces.
In view of the cost explosion that share is expected to shrink to five percent.
The president of the southern province, where the Goro plant is being built, says he and other politicians will ask Paris to raise the New
Caledonian contribution by about 140 million US dollars.
The Goro plant is expected to produce 60,000 tonnes of nickel a year once it is completed in 2009.
