PARIS (Reuters) - The nickel processing plant of New Caledonian producer SLN will need supplies of ore in the coming days to ensure its furnaces keep working, the CEO of main shareholder Eramet said on Thursday.
SLN has stopped mining in New Caledonia due to riots this month sparked by an electoral reform and the firm's Doniambo plant has been at running at minimum capacity.
"We urgently need to be able to bring ore to Doniambo," Eramet Chair and CEO Christel Bories told the group's annual shareholders' meeting.
"If we're not able to re-supply Doniambo in the coming days, I would say the next 10 days, then we will start to enter a danger zone for the furnaces," she said.
The plant has so far been able to use large stocks of ore that it typically holds at this time of year to offset the impact of the rainy season on mine output.
While mining was still at a halt, loading of some stocks had started on Thursday at one of SLN's mines following discussions with protesters, Bories added.
The unrest has deepened a crisis for New Caledonia's loss-making nickel sector, for which the French government has been trying to negotiate a rescue package.
Eramet has stopped financing SLN due to the recurring losses and in February secured a deal to remove SLN's debt to the government from Eramet's balance sheet.
The riots meant that the second quarter would be "even more difficult" for SLN than the previous quarter, Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Carre said, adding that the debt deal had removed the risk of financial impact on Eramet from its subsidiary.
Eramet's nickel operations are now focused on Indonesia, where it operates the world's biggest nickel mine in partnership with Chinese steel group Tsingshan.
(Reporting by Gus Trompiz; editing by Jason Neely and Susan Fenton)
