New Caledonia's Vale Inco nickel processing plant is now to be up and running in January.
The plant's launch has been delayed several times since last year, apparently over technical issues, but new date has been set by the new head of the New Caledonia director of Vale-Inco, Peter Poppinga.
He says the cost for the project has been contained below the four-billion US dollar mark.
Mr Poppinga says the launch will see a production target for 2010 of 20,000 tonnes of nickel which is a third of its initial projection for the plant at Goro in the territory's south.
