New Caledonia /Nouvelle-Calédonie - Stock-Fotografie

The islands of New Caledonia contain about about 10% of the world's nickel reserves. It is the world's fifth largest producer after Russia, Indonesia, Canada and Australia and it accounts for 7–10% of country's GDP. Nickel represents about 97% of the total value of exports. Strip mining is the most common technique adopted for nickel mining and the local nickel industry is dominated by the French company SLN (Societe Le Nickel).