VALE INCO NOUVELLE-CALEDONIE’S COMMITMENT

TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Vale Inco Nouvelle-Calédonie’s majority shareholder and technological partner, Vale - Inco, has affirmed and demonstrated its commitment to the principle of sustainable development. The company’s environmental strategy is therefore rooted in this global approach, taking as its frame of reference the definition put forward by the Norwegian Gro Harlem Brundtland at the U.N. in 1987.

« Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present, through an equitable distribution of the benefits of growth, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. »

Inco also adheres to the concept identifying three pillars to be reconciled to achieve sustainable development, as developed by the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992: economic progress (viable and fair), social justice (livable and fair) and environmental conservation (livable and fair).

The following diagram illustrates the concept:

Vale Inco Nouvelle-Calédonie is similarly committed to the spirit of sustainable development and the company’s development strategy is in tune with this universal principle that seeks the achievement of an optimal balance between environmental, economic and social factors, particularly for neighbouring communities.

For Vale Inco Nouvelle-Calédonie, the application of this principle takes the form of a range of practical measures, including:

Environmental protection

• using a new hydrometallurgical process that consumes four times less energy, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emission and thus the plant’s impact on air quality
• recycling 60 % of the water needed for plant operation
• neutralising solid waste and using it to fill in mining trenches in preference to dumping it at sea, thus enabling the future restoration of the landscape
• neutralising liquid waste, eliminating most metal content, prior to effluent discharge at sea via a kilometre-long diffuser pipeline in an area of strong currents 
• rehabilitation of plant cover with endemic species grown in the company’s own nursery that has already been up and running for ten years
• setting up a range of compensatory measures such as coral transplanting, installing mooring buoys, providing fire hydrants in proximity to nature reserves and signposting nature parks and reserves, etc.

Economic progress

• developing a process to allow cost-effective mining of low nickel content laterites – otherwise of no economic value – thereby producing a sevenfold increase in New Caledonia’s minable resources
• providing New Caledonia with long-term economic spin-offs:
• volume of exports doubled and a healthy balance of trade
• 30 % increase in GDP
• swelling New Caledonia's Public Treasury funds by around 20 to 30 million XPF through taxes and duties paid even during the 15 year partial tax holiday period
• giving New Caledonia's three Provinces a 10% capital interest in Vale Inco Nouvelle-Calédonie
• creating local jobs – direct, indirect and induced – during construction and, above all, throughout the entire operation period with 90% of the 800 direct jobs destined to go to local workers and, according to study estimates, 3000 to 4000 indirect and induced jobs being created
• developing local skills which will be channelled towards creating other projects in New Caledonia, including the Northern plant
• putting New Caledonia on the world economic map by endowing it with a world-class mining and metallurgical complex

Social justice

• maximising local employment opportunities by:
• ensuring strict compliance with procedures giving priority to available qualified local jobseekers
• providing trainingtailored to individual needs
• knowledge and respect for local laws and regulations
• taking an active part in all public consultation and monitoring forums set in place by the Southern Province (enquiries, environmental monitoring Committee, Southern Province steering committee, Round table, etc.)
• setting up a series of different structures to promote cooperation between all parties, with the aim of optimising the project's positive impacts and attenuating negative impacts over the short, medium and long term; an approach which should lead to the signature of a comprehensive and concerted “citizens’ agreement”.
• involvement in and financial support for events and initiatives organised by local bodies and associations with a special emphasis on educating young people and strengthening community ties and the social fabric.
• creating Citizens’ construction sites: a 150 million XPF project extending over three years for the construction or renovation of community facilities, in collaboration with Djubéa Kapone customary area and various educational organisations. These apprenticeship-construction sites have a dual purpose: promoting the development of local chiefdoms and training young people in the tribes benefiting under the scheme.