Restarting Vale's VNC nickel mine in New Caledonia is not expected to be easy, foreign media reported.
Vale's VNC nickel mine in New Caledonia, a major nickel producer, is not expected to reopen after independence forces won parliamentary elections in the country.
Parliamentary elections in New Caledonia in February were held after independents in the New Caledonian government resigned in protest at the sale of a local nickel plant while Vale was trying to sell VNC to foreign capital.
Vale shut down VNC's operations in December as protests over the sale intensified.
Vale initially planned to close mines where VNC could not be sold, but with independent forces opposed to the sale of VNC taking over, it is expected to be difficult to resume operations in a short time.
New Caledonia is the world's fourth-largest producer of nickel from mines, after Indonesia, the Philippines and Russia.
The country's nickel ore exports are mainly to South Korea, Japan and China.
New Caledonia accounts for 9 per cent of the world's total nickel production, or about 200,000 tonnes a year, according to the International Nickel Industry Study Group (INBG).
