By ANGELA GREGORY in Noumea
New Caledonia is on the verge of a huge expansion in nickel mining but has been warned that it must undertake careful conservation measures to avoid environmental disaster.
Australian scientist Professor Bob Gilkes told the Herald that like other tropical or subtropical countries, New Caledonia is at
high risk of erosion from mining which could have serious downstream effects.
Gilkes, a mining rehabilitation expert, is one of about 400 researchers attending the symposium on French research in the Pacific in Noumea this week.
He said before the conference opened on Monday that disasters had occurred in countries such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea with similarly sensitive environments where poorly conserved mines had collapsed in heavy rains.
The sediment clogged up waterways, killing fish life, and heavy metals dispersed from mining sites could travel up the food chain to eventually poison and even kill humans.
Gilkes said mining in New Caledonia had been on a relatively small scale but rising nickel prices driven by worldwide demand for stainless steel was seeing a major investment in new operations.
New Caledonia has about 25 per cent of the world's known nickel resources, which are found in old and highly weathered lateritic soils in which the iron content produces a red mask over the land.
Gilkes said a feature of the lateritic cover was the rare plant and animal life specific to the environment, which made effective conservation measures paramount.
Australian scientists had been working with colleagues in New Caledonia and New Zealand to help prepare for and control the impact of more intensive mining.
Gilkes said it was important after mining to quickly return topsoil to the site and grow vegetation that stabilised the land.
New Zealand scientists had been helping with soil microbiology, he said.
"They have provided their expertise in the very small creatures that come in first."
New Caledonia's steep terrain, enormous rainfalls and cyclonic weather made it vulnerable to severe erosion, posing a risk to the large surrounding lagoon and coral reefs and potentially impacting on other industries such as fishing and tourism.
The New Caledonian Government was aware of the problems but nickel was the country's main resource and it could not afford not to mine it.
* Angela Gregory has travelled courtesy of the High Commissioner of the French Republic in New Caledonia.
