The Swiss voice in the world since 1935
Top stories
Stay in touch with Switzerland

Glencore seeks to pull out of nickel mine in New Caledonia

caledonia
KEYSTONE/Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

On Monday, Glencore launched a call for bidders for its shares in the Koniambo nickel mine in New Caledonia.

The Swiss miner and trading house Glencore operates the mine on behalf of Société minière du Sud du Pacifique, which holds a 51% majority stake.

The two partners have agreed to shelve the site, which is persistently loss-making, the Zug-based multinational said in a press release.

Glencore points out that it has invested more than four billion dollars in Koniambo since it was acquired as part of its merger with Xstrata in 2013, without ever having made a single profit.

The mining and commodities trading giant stated that the assistance offered by the French government would not have enabled the site to become profitable again, given the high operating costs and low nickel prices.

Glencore has undertaken to maintain all jobs for a period of six months, the length of time it plans to keep the site in a state of lethargy, without elaborating on the rest of the scenario.

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Aargau police continue to search for escaped prisoner

More

Swiss police still hunting handcuffed escapee

This content was published on A prisoner who escaped on Thursday in Baden, canton Aargau, is still on the run. The 23-year-old Albanian, who was in custody for burglary, was wearing handcuffs when he escaped.

Read more: Swiss police still hunting handcuffed escapee
Switzerland reinforces its ground-air defence with German systems

More

Swiss reinforce ground-air defence with German systems

This content was published on Switzerland has purchased five IRIS-T SLM systems for ground-based air defence from Germany, the Federal Office for Defence Procurement (armasuisse) said on Monday.

Read more: Swiss reinforce ground-air defence with German systems
Deer return to Winterthur cemetery

More

Evicted deer return to Swiss cemetery

This content was published on Individual deer are continuing to return to the Rosenberg cemetery in Winterthur, northeastern Switzerland, even after an eviction campaign last winter.

Read more: Evicted deer return to Swiss cemetery
You hardly earn any interest on savings accounts in Switzerland anymore

More

Hardly any interest earned on savings accounts in Switzerland

This content was published on Interest rates on savings accounts in Switzerland have fallen significantly. The brief high in savings interest rates is over, according to a study by online comparison service Moneyland.

Read more: Hardly any interest earned on savings accounts in Switzerland
Nazis

More

Nazi hikers questioned by Swiss police

This content was published on A group of around 25 men in uniforms of the Wehrmacht – the army of Nazi Germany – crossed the Wildhorn massif on Saturday and were questioned by Bern cantonal police.

Read more: Nazi hikers questioned by Swiss police

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR