MKM, Maï Kouaoua Mines
Founded in 1984, Maï Kouaoua Mines directly operates its nickel mining titles in N'Go Bay, at Mont-Dore, and carries the ore to the ore carriers with its own barge fleet. Its customers: Japan, China, Korea, Australia and the Doniambo plant.
A family company turned direct operator
Maï Kouaoua Mines (MKM) was founded in 1984 by Jules Mai. Having arrived from Tahiti in 1956, he had joined the Kouaoua mining centre and spent thirty years within the Pentecost mining group. The company began as a subcontractor, then acquired its first mining titles in N'Go Bay, at Mont-Dore, in 1994.
These wholly owned titles give MKM the status of a direct nickel operator: the company runs the entire chain of operations, from extracting the nickel ore to loading the ore carriers.
Two principles have guided the company from the outset: field know-how built up since the late 1950s, and constant attention to the social environment of its sites, through lasting partnerships with customary chiefs, local communities, institutions and communes.
Ada, Graziella, Mireille: the N'Go Bay mines
MKM works two mines in N'Go Bay, and a third is covered by an exploration permit:
- Ada: prospected in 2008 and 2009, rehabilitated and brought into production from 2010 on its South and North plateaus, it obtained its operating permit in 2011. Its reopening marked the return of mining to Mont-Dore.
- Graziella: in production since 1 April 2016.
- Mireille: under exploration permit.
The three mines bear the first names of three of Jules and Émilienne Mai's daughters, a family signature unique in the Caledonian mining landscape.
Nickel customers in Japan, China, Korea and Australia
MKM delivers its saprolite to Japan's Pamco, to the SLN plant at Doniambo and to Korea's POSCO NMC; its laterite is shipped to China and to Australia's QNi.
In 2013, the company signed a ten-year contract with Pamco for 250,000 tonnes a year, "the company's biggest contract" (local press, 2013). This partnership has been renewed until April 2035. In 2015, MKM was the only Caledonian company to obtain the government's go-ahead to export to China; the ore carrier Eternal Triumph (55,000 tonnes) arrived in N'Go Bay at the end of that year.
In 2024, MKM exported 215,000 tonnes to China and Korea. In 2025, its authorisations were renewed, with Glencore until January 2031 and Pamco until April 2035, and export capacity was raised to 450,000 tonnes.
In November 2025, MKM chartered the Afros, a hybrid ore carrier fitted with four rotor sails: the first wind-powered ore carrier chartered in New Caledonia, loaded in N'Go Bay.
An in-house barge fleet since 2013
Since January 2013, MKM has handled the transport of its ore entirely on its own, from the wharf to the ore carrier. This self-sufficiency represents an investment of around 1 billion CFP francs.
The fleet:
- 2 tugboats of 16.5 metres, Le Jules and L'Émilienne, named in tribute to the group's founders;
- 5 barges of 500 tonnes;
- 1 barge of 600 tonnes.
The barge operation employs ten people directly: two captains, two first mates, two 750 kW chief engineers and four deckhands. Around ten casual workers from the Wakondé company strengthen the crews during loading.
Wakondé: local employment at the heart of the operation
The Wakondé company was created together with MKM. Its shareholders come mainly from the Saint-Louis and Ouen Island tribes, at Mont-Dore. It handles the loading of the ore carriers, 10 to 15 casual jobs per vessel, under MKM's responsibility.
The growth of activity in N'Go Bay has also enabled the creation of several local haulage companies. In 2026, the N'Go mines account for 80 direct jobs, 20 subcontractors, 10 casual workers at loading and 13 independent hauliers who have worked with the company since 2010.
Clearing old ore stocks to rehabilitate the land
MKM carries out operations to clear old ore stocks in order to clean up areas inherited from former workings, known as orphan mines, in partnership with the public authorities and customary authorities.
Between 2009 and 2011, the stocks abandoned along the Saint-Louis shoreline were removed and then reprocessed, an operation described as "an opportunity [...] to redevelop the area" (the group's environmental manager, LNC, 2011).
