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André Dang Van Nha (originally ''Đặng Văn Nha''; born Voh, New Caledonia, 27 July 1936) is a
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
n mining magnate, of
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
ese origin and
French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...
/
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n/Vietnamese citizenship. He is best known for brokering a series of remarkable mining deals that also supported the
Kanak The Kanaks ( French spelling until 1984: Canaque) are the indigenous Melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific. Kanak peoples traditionally speak diverse Austronesian languages that ...
cause for independence from France.


Background

André Dang was born in poverty to Nguyễn Thị Bình, a Vietnamese woman who had left behind her three children in Phhuc Am in
French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...
, and was recruited as an indentured labourer by a mining company in 1935 to work on
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
's nickel mines in and around the Koniambo complex, close to the town of Voh in the country's north. She was treated harshly like many of the Chân Dăng Vietnamese labourers imported to work the mines, and suffered greatly as one of few women. She met Đặng Văn Nha at the camp and André Dang was their child. Đặng Văn Nha died in an industrial accident in 1937 while constructing a wharf. Because they were not married, indeed married to others in Vietnam, Thi Binh received none of his pension, and was posted to even harsher labour on a chrome mine near Koumac where her son was cared for by other Vietnamese as she worked long days.Pitoiset, A. and C. Wéry. 2008. ''Mystère Dang''. Noumea: Le Rayon Vert. This was unsustainable, and André Dang was then adopted by a Vietnamese couple of modest means and living in Nouméa. He gradually integrated into the predominant French culture of the city. At the age of 6, US Marines arrived in Nouméa after a major Pacific base was established by the Allies, and Dang was in frequent contact with them and learned English. He attended Sacré Cœur and then Frédéric Surleu public schools. In 1949 his mother finished her contract on the mines, moved to Nouméa, and he returned to live with her along with two new siblings. Working as a mechanic, he married Bui Thi En at the age of 18 and gained a diploma and a job at the Doniambo nickel smelter. They had 4 children. He was supported to undertake a degree in engineering in Marseilles in the late 1950s, where he also took French citizenship.


Business activities

In 1961 Dang returned to
Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French Sui generis collectivity, special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest Francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main i ...
to co-manage first a
Citroën Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...
automobile dealership, and then met great success with his own
Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
import business and petrol station. He suffered racism in his business affairs, particularly in the 1960s, in a city populated largely by Europeans protecting their monopoly, and particularly hostile to Vietnamese, three quarters of whom left New Caledonia in that decade to return to Vietnam during its war. In the 1970s he met and became friends with
Jean-Marie Tjibaou Jean-Marie Tjibaou (; January 30, 1936 – May 4, 1989) was a French politician in New Caledonia and leader of the Kanak independence movement. The son of a tribal chief, Tjibaou was ordained a Catholic priest but abandoned his religious vocati ...
, a Kanak leader and supporter of independence from France. Increasingly aligned with, but not a participant in, independence struggles in the 1980s, he was forced into exile in Australia after being falsely accused of financial support for the independence movement. His petrol station was torched during ''les Evénements'', while he was away on business in Sydney and he remained there living in Kellyville, NSW and setting up several new businesses, becoming an Australian citizen. After the signing of the Accords de Matignon in 1988 he returned, and took on the Directorship of Société minière du sud Pacifique (SMSP), which had recently been sold by
Jacques Lafleur Jacques Lafleur (; 20 November 1932 – 4 December 2010) was a French politician born in Nouméa, New Caledonia, France. Lafleur was a leader of one of the two anti-independence parties in New Caledonia, the RPCR (Rally for Caledonia in the Rep ...
to the Kanak-controlled SOFINOR operation as a gesture of political reconciliation. He was successful in turning around this bankrupt company, and by 1995, the SMSP had become a prime nickel exporter. In 2008 they opened a nickel smelter in South Korea and a series of deals led by Dang enabled construction of another, the huge Koniambo massif project where he had begun his life. The brokering of this deal by Dang and others in the ‘Bercy Agreements’ of 1998 was legendary in New Caledonia, involving a swap of mining titles with other nickel mines, political interventions, and clever bargaining to provide the Kanak north of the island with its own economic powerhouse and employment opportunity. The US$5.3 billion plant at Vavouto is operated by
Koniambo Nickel SAS The Koniambo mine is a large open pit mine of the laterite variety in the north of New Caledonia in the North Province. It is closest to the small town of Voh, on the west coast of the island. Nickel is found in saprolite ore on the Koniambo ...
(KNS), a joint venture between the Northern Province’s SMSP and the transnational conglomerate Glencore-Xstrata. The
Koniambo mine The Koniambo mine is a large open pit mine of the laterite variety in the north of New Caledonia in the North Province. It is closest to the small town of Voh, on the west coast of the island. Nickel is found in saprolite ore on the Koniambo ...
and
smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron, copper, silver, tin, lead and zin ...
, a multibillion-dollar operation, entered production in 2014. The deal with Glencore may end at their request in 2024.https://www.glencore.com/media-and-insights/news/glencore-announces-funding-decision-on-koniambo-nickel Dang, now in his late 80s, was for many decades President and CEO of SMSP, and strongly protective of New Caledonian ownership in its mining interests.


Personal

Dang is regarded as a somewhat mysterious figure in New Caledonia, and a biography published in 2008, ''Mystère Dang'', sheds some light on his rags-to-riches story and political leanings.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dang, Andre Van Nha 1936 births Living people Australian people of Vietnamese descent Australian businesspeople French people of Vietnamese descent French businesspeople New Caledonian people of Vietnamese descent Vietnamese businesspeople People from North Province, New Caledonia