New Caledonia pro-independence leaders boycott EU critical minerals deal

By Patrick Decloitre of RNZ Pacific

Pro-independence leaders in New Caledonia’s Congress have boycotted the signing of a strategic partnership deal on critical raw materials between the European Union (EU) and the French Pacific territory, citing concerns over a lack of local consultation.

On Tuesday, the EU signed the non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) on sustainable raw materials with the nickel-rich territory.

The EU’s executive vice-president for prosperity and industrial strategy Stéphane Séjourné and New Caledonia government’s President Milakulo Tukumuli, and his Energy and Mining Minister Alcide Ponga inked the deal.

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The MOU establishes the political framework that will allow the EU and New Caledonia to cooperate on raw materials value chains.

“New Caledonia is one of the world’s leading nickel producers, accounting for 3.1 percent of global production in 2024,” the EU said in a news release. It is estimated that New Caledonia also hold 5.4 percent of the world’s exploitable nickel reserves.

The EU also recognises New Caledonia’s “broader mineral potential and its privileged status as an Overseas Country and Territory (OCT).”

Under the EU classification, New Caledonia qualifies as an “OCT” because it is part of an EU member country (France).

The MOU with New Caledonia is the EU’s 17th strategic partnership in raw materials since 2021.

Other strategic partnerships
The European Commission has previously established strategic partnerships on raw materials with Canada and Ukraine (2021), Kazakhstan and Namibia (2022), Argentina, Chile, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, and Greenland (2023), Rwanda, Norway, Uzbekistan, Australia, and Serbia (2024), South Africa (2025), the United States (2026).

During his four-day visit, Séjourné said the deal marked a new chapter in the relationship between the EU and New Caledonia.

“Europe needs reliable partners to diversify its critical raw materials supply chains. New Caledonia has the resources, industrial expertise and know-how to play a strategic role in this effort,” he said.

“Our ambition is clear: to make New Caledonia a preferred supplier for European industry, while making Europe a partner of choice for investment, financing and new industrial opportunities in New Caledonia.”

The MOU outlines five areas in which the EU and New Caledonia are expected to cooperate.

These include the “economic and industrial integration of value chains for critical raw materials and other raw materials” to “develop projects of common interest, facilitate access to finance to attract further investments … and mobilise relevant EU, Member State, financial institution instruments and private investment”.

The deal also pledges to “cooperate to ensure that New Caledonia’s minerals sector is a lever for sustainable and inclusive economic growth with local and domestic value creation”, within a general framework of “best practises” and “sustainable exploitation of mineral resources”.

Only the ‘beginning’
Séjourné stressed that the MOU was only the “beginning, a political statement which is expected to be followed within the next six months by moves to “jointly develop a roadmap in consultation with all EU Member States, the European Investment Bank, industry, and partners.”

“The roadmap will feature concrete actions to translate the strategic partnership into practice,” he said.

Séjourné said the MOU would also contribute to the resilience and diversification of the EU’s raw materials supply chains in line with the Critical Raw Materials Act and the RESourceEU Action Plan.

European Investment Bank vice-president Ambroise Fayolle is expected to visit New Caledonia early December 2026, he added.

Tukumuli said the MOU would not replace New Caledonia’s home-grown nickel strategy.

“It’s not an end in itself, but rather the beginning of a process. I see this as an opportunity,” he said at the signing.

Opposition’s reservations
However, most parties from the pro-independence side chose not to attend the signing in protest against what they perceived as a move to push ahead with the pact without consulting the Congress and therefore disregarding New Caledonia’s total control over its mining industry.

They also raised the issue of sovereignty over the crucial resource.

But the EU diplomat said that the deal was not just about securing nickel supplies for Europe.

“It is about creating value, supporting jobs and building a shared industrial future.”

Séjourné, who was invited to deliver an address before New Caledonia’s Congress, criticised the no-show from the opposition.

“Those empty seats will not help me convince my European colleagues to bring support to [New Caledonia’s] projects,” he said.

“This is a negative signal, from the investors’ perspective.

“We have signed with several other Overseas Countries and Territories, including Greenland which has the same OCT status as New Caledonia.”

Séjourné told French public network La Première that he was “usually more used to territories applying pressure to sign more quickly”.

Highly-sensitive nickel strategy
He said the highly-sensitive nickel strategy, expected to be defined at a later stage, remained a matter to be decided locally.

He said the EU was in favour of a strong and profit-generating local infrastructure to process nickel and add value before export.

But New Caledonia’s nickel industry, which has been undergoing a deep and structural crisis for several years, needs to undergo drastic reforms, such as a reduction in its production costs, including energy, to bring the industry on par with current global producers, such as China and Indonesia.

New Caledonia’s three current operators: Prony Resources New Caledonia (PRNC), Société Le Nickel (SLN) and Koniambo Nickel SAS (KNS) are all facing difficult times.

In Prony (South of the main island), an Emirati consortium, New Battery Metals, has recently withdrawn its bid.

In the North, KNS, once a symbol of New Caledonia’s rebalancing of wealth, has remained in mothball mode since 2024, after its main shareholder and financier British-Swiss Glencore said it was withdrawing from its 49 percent shareholding, which remains up for grabs.

International companies, including from China, have recently expressed willingness to buy into KNS.

Nickel industry welcomes the pact
Nickel mining stakeholders welcomed the MOU, stating that the EU’s interest could increase attention from potential European investors.

“[This MOU] will make us more attractive and increase chances of a potential takeover,” PRNC’s acting president Fatima Lachaize said.

“We have to regain our place on the world nickel chessboard, faced with the Chinese industry”, SLN’s general manager Guillaume Kurek said.

Geostrategic move
Séjourné also noted that Brussels considered New Caledonia as “one of the only advanced posts” of Europe in the Pacific region, against a backdrop of increasing tensions between China and the United States.

Since Brexit, France now remains the only EU member state having OCTs in the Pacific —  New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis-and-Futuna.

“New Caledonia has once again become, probably also in the eyes of my [EU] colleagues, a geostrategic stake in the Pacific”, he told an audience at the University of New Caledonia.

“In this tense international context, with the support of [EU’s] 27 member states, you should feel stronger,” he said.

He said the deal could illustrate “what New Caledonia can gain” and “how Europe can build its influence in the Pacific”.

Séjourné added that the strategic alliance could also enable the EU, if faced with a decision to “block” its supply in case of “sudden tension or diplomatic conflict”, to rely on New Caledonia’s nickel.