SMP, the Société Minière de Poro
Founded in August 2000, SMP operates the Poro mining site, in Houaïlou, on behalf of SLN. The leading employer in the commune, it works under the coverage of SLN's ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certifications, whose standards it upholds.
More than twenty years serving the Poro site
The Société Minière de Poro (SMP) is a limited liability company (SARL) founded in August 2000. It works as a mining contractor to LE NICKEL-SLN, a subsidiary of the Eramet group, on the Bonini mine, within the Poro mining site, in the commune of Houaïlou.
From the end of 2000, SMP began producing laterite for export to Australia. In 2005, it took up the production of saprolite, destined for the Doniambo plant.
The company is led by Philippe Mai, a member of the founding family: he has managed it since the start of the contract work for SLN, in 2005, and still leads it today.
Since it was founded, its contract-mining agreement has been renewed without interruption, more than twenty-two years of working with SLN. This renewed trust has been built up job after job, through the quality of the work delivered.
The leading employer in the commune of Houaïlou
SMP employs a little over 66 permanent staff, plus an average of 8 haulage contractors and 14 casual workers. It is the leading employer in the commune of Houaïlou.
To carry out its operations, the company relies on its own resources: more than 80 mining machines, a fully equipped workshop and a dock.
This local presence is also built through training. In 2006, SMP was a partner of the graduation ceremony at the Poro CFTMC: 42 machine operators graduated, 19 of them women.
The complete value chain, from mine to ore carrier
At the Poro site, SMP masters every stage of production:
- Extraction of the nickel ore, with geological monitoring and management of the working faces;
- Haulage: moving the ore to the platforms and then to the wharf;
- Drying by turning and grade control (sampling, laboratory analysis);
- Storage on the platforms;
- Loading of the ore carriers: mooring, barging and operating the shipboard cranes.
About 80% of production goes to export; about 20% supplies the Doniambo plant.
The company also handles the controlled placement of waste rock in dumps (drains, profiling, compaction, water management), the upkeep of roads and platforms, and the dredging of environmental protection structures.
Two certifications, one same standard
SLN, on whose behalf SMP operates, is certified to ISO 14001 for environmental management and ISO 45001 for occupational health and safety; SMP works under this coverage and upholds its standards.
These certifications frame the teams' daily work: water management on the waste-rock dumps, upkeep of environmental protection structures, control of operations at every stage. They attest to work that is monitored, audited and measured.
Our values
Six values guide the daily work of SMP's teams:
- Know-how
- Quality
- Environmental awareness
- Responsibility
- Trust
- Closeness
Heading for 500,000 tonnes
In 2022, SMP loaded 420,000 tonnes of ore. The company has set itself a target of 500,000 tonnes.
Between 2012 and 2025, it produced and loaded around 5 million tonnes as a subcontractor to SLN.
To support this ramp-up, the group is pursuing a project to give SMP its own barge fleet, representing an investment of one billion francs.
