2024-02-09 18:20:46
This is the worst-case scenario. Thousands of Australian miners and metallurgists have been living a nightmare since January: faced with a nickel market at half mast, where China and Indonesia call the shots, several sites will be put on hold while waiting for better days, putting 10,000 jobs at risk, according to a study by the Western Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy.
In New Caledonia, where the three nickel factories are in a critical situation, a similar measure could soon affect Koniambo Nickel SAS (KNS), also called the “Northern factory”, whose staggering debt reaches 13.5 billion euros. . A debt entirely borne by Glencore, a 49% shareholder, at the end of the shareholders’ pact which links the Anglo-Swiss group to the Société Minière du Sud Pacifique, which represents the interests of the Northern Province, a community in the hands of the separatists.
On Wednesday February 7, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, announced aid of 200 million euros in the form of a loan and direct grant to KNS, while calling for “Glencore to take its responsibilities”. On Thursday, the most optimistic considered the imminent signing of an agreement. However, on Friday, KNS management flew to Nouméa without any guarantee about the future of the site. “Despite all the goodwill of the parties involved in the negotiations, the future of Koniambo Nickel must be written with a new partner, other than Glencoreindicated to MondeAlexandre Rousseau, director of human resources and communications at KNS. Glencore must take its responsibilities: I agree, not that of continuing to support our sector, if it is not in the interest of its group strategy, but that of granting us the possibility of finding a reliable buyer in the best conditions. »
Possible juicy profits
Glencore could indeed decide to stop financing, but without selling its shares: this would put it on hold for an indefinite period, until nickel prices recover. Because the North factory is backed by one of the very first nickel deposits in the world, the Koniambo massif. However, Glencore, which posts an operating profit in its trading branch of more than 3 billion euros for 2023, is not looking for financing. Selling today would mean depriving yourself of possible juicy profits when the prices of this cyclical industry start to rise again. Especially since the factory’s production is now on track and France has announced its intention to include Caledonian nickel in the European strategy for supplying critical metals to counter the Chinese steamroller, particularly on the electric vehicle battery market.
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