Goro nickel mine: An environmental experiment in New Caledonia

 

Title: The Goro nickel mine: the political ecology of an environmental experiment in New Caledonia

 

Abstract

This project investigates into a nickel refinery in the French Pacific country of New Caledonia. Owned by Brazilian mining giant Vale, the Vale New Caledonia smelter started production in 2013 after years of conflict with indigenous Kanaks and environmentalists, extending to intra-community conflict. It is a high-pressure acid leaching smelter - experimental technology on such a scale and classified SEVOSO II risk by European standards. It is set in a biodiversity hotspot and tailings are pumped into the sea nearby the UNESCO World Heritage lagoon.The country holds the fifth largest reserve of nickel in the world, and currently operates three smelters. Hence nickel has shaped New Caledonia’s politics for over more than 150 years of colonisation, a subterranean power which has infiltrated nearly every aspect of life on the island. The project uses journalism as a research practice within a political ecology and mineral sovereignty framework. Journalism may in many instances, such as general news reporting, be defined as a non-reflexive craft; however, in other forms, particularly in investigative and/or long form, journalism can constitute an interdisciplinary academic research practice that contributes new, original knowledge, with its own rigorous research methods and processes.

Researcher: Nicole Gooch

Supervisor: A/Prof. Tom Morton

Co-Supervisor: Dr. Jeremy Walker

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.