Koniambo nickel plant

New Caledonia Koniambo furnace to be rebuilt

This follows a meeting of Glencore, which is a major investor in the multi-billion dollar plant.

However, the planned dismissal of about 140 employees is still to go ahead.

The $US70 billion plant was shut for weeks after Christmas 2014 after about 500 tonnes of liquid nickel was spilled from one of the furnaces, incurring the company millions of US dollars of damage.