NEW CALEDONIA NEW CALEDONIA

Grande Terre (16 372 square kilometers) is the largest island of New Caledonia, it has an elongated shape from northwest to southeast, and is a long 400 km and between 50 and 70 km wide, it has also the highest mountain of nation Mount Panié, which rises to 1 628 meters. In Grande Terre lies the vast majority of the population, especially in the south where is the capital Nouméa. The island of Grande Terre is surrounded by one of the most extensive coral reefs of the Earth, long 1 600 km, is located between 10 and 50 km away from the coast of the island and covers a total area of 24 000 square kilometers. The main source of income of the country is given by the mining, in particular that of deposits of nickel for which production New Caledonia is between the first places in the world ranking (production in 2003: 111 900 tonnes, 8.7% of world production, 4 th producer in the world) and owns more than 25% of the world's known nickel resources. In addition to nickel there are also significant deposits of iron, cobalt, copper, manganese and chromium. Among other productive activities are agriculture (vegetables, coconut palms, coffee, maize), breeding, timber, tourism and fisheries.