The riches of Oceania and the need to think about them as Oceanians

Hello everyone,

The APROFED association is getting back to you this week following Australia’s announcement last month of 52 billion CFP francs in support for its metallurgical industry (see Australia mobilises 52 billion francs to strengthen the metallurgical industry | Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes ).

This article states that this industry is worth nearly 18,000 billion CFP francs, or 150 billion Australian dollars, in exports each year.

An Australian mining giant (BHP) even made a takeover bid of nearly $40 billion for the Anglo American company in 2024 (see Anglo American rejects a takeover bid of £34 billion – Le Revenu ), demonstrating the capacity and power of the Oceanian mining and metallurgical industry.

For information, the association recalls below the mineral and other resources present in Oceania, listed by the IA:

Oceania has significant mineral resources, exploited mainly in Australia , Papua New Guinea , New Caledonia , Fiji (Melanesia) and other islands. The main mineral resources exploited in the region are:

1. Australia

Australia is one of the world’s largest producers of several minerals:

• • Iron : Mined in the Pilbara region (Western Australia).

• • Gold : Kalgoorlie and other parts of Western Australia.

• • Uranium : Deposits at Ranger, Olympic Dam.

• • Coal : Major coalfields of Queensland and New South Wales.

• • Bauxite (used for aluminium): Mined in Weipa (Queensland) and Gove (Northern Territory).

• • Copper : Olympic Dam (one of the largest deposits in the world).

• • Nickel : Mined in Western Australia.

• • Lithium : Growing exploitation for batteries (Greenbushes, Pilbara).

2. Papua New Guinea

• • Gold : Porgera, Ok Tedi and Lihir Mines.

• • Copper : Ok Tedi, Bougainville (exploitation suspended since a conflict).

• • Nickel and cobalt : Ramu deposit.

3. New Caledonia

• • Nickel : One of the world’s largest producers.

• • Cobalt : Associated with nickel deposits.

4. Fiji

• • Gold : Emperor Gold Mine, one of the largest in the South Pacific.

5. Other Pacific Islands

Some Pacific islands also have mineral resources:

• • Phosphates : Nauru and Banaba Islands (exploitation almost exhausted).

• • Manganese : Groote Eylandt Island (Australia).

Oceania therefore plays a major role in the global exploitation of many minerals, notably nickel, iron, gold, uranium and lithium , which are strategic for modern industries.

As such, Oceania occupies a significant position in the exploitation of mineral resources at the global level. Here is an overview of its role:

1. A world leader in certain strategic minerals

• • Australia :

• • • World’s leading producer of lithium (essential for electric batteries).

• • • World’s leading producer of bauxite (used to produce aluminum).

• • • 2nd largest gold producer in the world after China.

• • • 2nd largest producer of iron ore in the world , mainly for China.

• • • Significant production of uranium (essential for nuclear energy).

• • • High production of coal , much of which is exported to Asia.

• • • 1st place in LNG exports (Australia). Australia is a major producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and competes with Qatar for the world’s 1st place in exports .

• • • Oil and gas : Australia, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste exploit significant oil and natural gas deposits , particularly offshore in the Bass Strait region and off Western Australia.

• • Papua New Guinea : gold, copper and nickel mining.

• • New Caledonia : a key player in nickel (4th largest producer in the world) , used for batteries and the steel industry.

2. A key continent for the energies of the future

With its vast reserves of lithium, nickel and cobalt , Oceania is playing a growing role in the energy transition, particularly for electric batteries.

3. Challenges and issues

• • Dependence on Asian markets , especially China.

• • Environmental issues and local tensions , particularly with indigenous populations.

• • Increased competition with other producing countries, such as South America for lithium.

In summary, Oceania is a major mining power, with a dominant position in the extraction of several strategic minerals essential to global industry.

It would therefore be time for the association for the Oceanian States to come together , notably Australian and Melanesian, as proposed in our solution 2 (see without France – APROFED ), with a view to consolidating their positions as economic leaders at the global level.

In terms of nickel resources, this would put Australia in the top 3 countries worldwide, not only as producers but also as holders of reserves of this metal.

The financial capacity of this sector in Australia could prove interesting in the context of the search for new partners for the Nickel manufacturers currently established in New Caledonia.

This search for new partners is all the more crucial for the future of the territory as it cannot count on France, which wishes to maintain control over this wealth, financially supporting the historic factory owned by a French company Eramet (see: The State and Eramet erase the debt of the Caledonian SLN ) and partly those of the loyalists in the South (see: New Caledonia: the State lends 140 million euros to the Prony nickel factory ) but not the factory in the North owned by the independentists, going so far as to block potential buyers of the shares of the shareholder Glencore and thus calling into question the foundations of the 1998 Noumea Peace Agreement.

It should also be remembered that the financial difficulties of the Nickel sector certainly have global causes , with an oversupply causing prices to fall, all of this organized by China but also by France , which, although castigating the Middle Kingdom all day long, particularly with the Caledonians, even predicting a new Chinese colonization in the event of independence, is participating in the construction of the largest Nickel mine in the world, in Indonesia, on the Weda Bay site (see Nickel – Eramet ) with as partner, a Chinese company, Tsingshan , the world’s leading producer of stainless steel, this thanks in part to the revenues of the Caledonian industry and SLN, half of whose revenues (around 60 billion fcfp) are returned each year as dividends to Eramet shareholders in France, as specified in its statutes. It should be noted that the Eramet company also invests in lithium mines in Argentina and that, by presenting surplus accounts, leaves SLN in financial difficulty ( SLN in conciliation proceedings ), knowing that the French State will maintain the company forever in order to still have a French presence on the territory.

It is also regrettable that SLN, and therefore Eramet, is having to burden its own employees with these difficulties, for which it is partly responsible, by reducing staff (see SLN sets new objectives for a way out of the crisis | Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes ) using the sharp rise in energy costs as a pretext, comparing it with the low costs of the Chinese Nickel factories in Indonesia, which Eramet is responsible for.

Here again, it would be interesting to get closer to our Australian neighbors who intend to build the largest solar power plant in the world (see Australia announces that it wants to build the “largest” solar power plant in the world ) to supply in part via an underwater cable, Singapore, with the Sun Cable project. This orientation is considered more judicious at the environmental level than the Turkish floating power plant powered by fuel oil that SLN currently uses (see A floating fuel oil power plant to secure SLN production in New Caledonia ). Here again it is worth remembering that in Oceania, at the level of renewable energies : Australia is investing in solar and wind energy, while some islands are developing hydroelectricity and geothermal energy.

To conclude on the subject of Nickel, it should be noted that Indonesia, wishing not to be entirely under Chinese control, would like to create a Nickel cartel (see Food for thought: Indonesia wants a cartel of nickel producers ), like OPEC for hydrocarbons, to support prices and the industry in this sector for the various producing countries. New Caledonia has already made it known twice that it is in favor of this measure, even sending a delegation to Indonesia in 2013 to discuss it (see New Caledonia in favor of an “OPEC” for nickel ; New Caledonia: the independentists want the creation of an Organization of Nickel Exporting Countries • TNTV Tahiti Nui Télévision ). But as a pro-independence elected official pointed out, this will be done with the agreement of France, as it holds the sovereign competence of diplomacy . And once again, rather than supporting its nickel industries with a higher metal price, the State, positioning itself as a buyer, prefers to have a low price for the said metal, with a project like that of Weda Bay, with a low energy cost thanks to coal, a lower labor cost than in New Caledonia and once again to the detriment of the environment.

Besides these mineral riches, Oceania is a rich continent and has other immense natural resources such as:

1. Forest Resources

• • Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands have significant tropical forests that are logged for timber (export to China and Southeast Asia).

2. Marine Resources

• • Tuna fishing is a vital resource for the economies of the Pacific Islands.

• • Coral and pearl mining in French Polynesia and Australia.

3. Agricultural Resources

• • Australia and New Zealand: Sheep and cattle farming, wheat, wine, wool and milk production.

• • Pacific Islands: Cultivation of copra (coconut), coffee, vanilla, cocoa and tropical fruits.

We wish you a good read and remind you that federalism is the only solution to reconcile unity in diversity.

The APROFED association