Société du Nickel de Nouvelle-Calédonie et Corée Pty Ltd (SNNC), a joint venture between South Korean steel giant POSCO with a 49 percent stake and New Caledonia Island's Societe Miniere du Sud Pacifique S.A (SMSP) with a 51 percent stake, has announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the local governments for capacity expansion projects at its Gwangyang plant in South Korea.
With this MoU, SNNC will increase its annual nickel production capacity from 30,000 metric tons to 54,000 metric tons, while the local governments provide the needed administrative support. Accordingly, SNNC will start laying the groundwork in Gwangyang with plans to complete the second nickel refining facility in 2014.
The SNNC plant, with a nominal capacity of 30,000 metric tons of nickel metal contained in ferronickels produced 20,512 metric tons of nickel metal in 2010.