Yannick Harrel

The third and final referendum in New Caledonia on December 13, 2021, was closely followed by France due to the territory’s future status as either a territorial collectivity or an independent state. However, this vote was also closely monitored by various global public and private actors. The New Caledonian archipelago draws significant international attention for two main reasons. The first is its strategic geographic position in the South Pacific, where China’s growing influence has heightened concerns among regional powers such as Australia and New Zealand, allies of the United States (as evidenced by the official announcement of the AUKUS military alliance on September 15, 2021). The second, and the focus of this analysis, is its mineral wealth, particularly its substantial nickel deposits, which dominate its resource extraction industry. Nickel is a critical resource in the global energy transition, as outlined by the signatories of the Kyoto Protocol (1997), reinforced by the Pa...