Goro Nickel

We were commissioned by Goro Nickel SAS to build a port with two 190 m wharves and two 90 m metal approach jetties for the Goro Nickel project. Located in Prony Bay, south of Noumea in New Caledonia, the purpose of the Goro Nickel port is to facilitate access to the nickel plant. We were also in charge of the civil engineering for this nickel plant, including the concrete infrastructures and all metal inserts.

BACKGROUND

The Goro Nickel project is located in New Caledonia. In this region, nickel mining accounts for between 20 and 40% of the global reserves and 9% of the global production.
The construction of a new processing plant was planned so that the Goro plateau mineral deposit could be exploited to develop the nickel market which represents an important part of New Caledonia’s economy.
The port allows large vessels with a draught of more than 10 m to berth. It was first used to ship in the materials necessary for the construction of the nickel processing plant.

TECHNICAL OVERVIEW

For the construction of the port, all measures were taken to minimise the impact on the environment. For one, the coral in the bay was transported to Casy and Montravel islands. Then, to minimise the impact on the marine environment, a design using piles was adopted.
In addition, the port has two main wharves (one for bulk carriers and one for various merchandise) built of concrete slabs mounted on piles for a reduced impact on the seabed. Using this superstructure technique allowed us to avoid excavating a part of the bay to build a structure on traditional foundations.
Special attention was paid to the country’s biodiversity because New Caledonia has the world’s highest rate of endemism.
Given the environmental conditions of the nickel mining plant (for which we took charge of the civil engineering works), where regulations regarding production and waste areas are very strict, we had to install an area to wash vehicles with water filters and a treatment system. We also set up a waste storage area by type of material for pre-collection and treatment.

Nickel accounts for a major share of New Caledonia’s exports. So, such a project has a direct and enduring role in the whole region.

IMPACT

As the project was located in an area with particularly rich biodiversity and a large number of endemic species, we used all the methods necessary for environmental conservation.
This project was on a large scale for the territory: the plant was designed to produce around 60,000 tonnes of nickel and 4,500 tonnes of cobalt per year. As nickel mining represents an important part of New Caledonia’s GDP, this project created around 3,000 jobs, of which 1,350 were direct, a significant part of the working population.

Project participants

Client
Goro Nickel Sas

Project management
GTC (Inco / Lavallin / Foster Wheeler)

Key figures

Implementation dates
August 2005 to June 2008    

Port:

Piles: 127
Concrete: 7,787 m3

Plant:
Concrete: 56,000 m3