New Caledonia

The year 2017 was said to be the last useful year to promote a calm and consensual completion of the Noumea Agreement before the 2018 referendum on independence. It has indeed seemed to be a transitional year. The previous year of 2016, which was a preelection year in metropolitan France, revealed some key events related to the collapse of the nickel price, which put the three nickel plants in New Caledonia-the Le Nickel Society (SLN) in Noumea, Vale in the South, and the Northern Province plant of Glencore-and the upstream mining activity at risk. In November, Prime Minister Valls announced strong financial support for the Vale Plant, as he had done in April 2016 for the SLN. To prevent its possible closure, Valls pledged a E200 million loan and an additional financial guarantee for E220 million. The situation of the Northern plant was still to be resolved.