Large scale phosphate mining is on the cards in French Polynesia.
An Australian company wants to tap into Makatea's residual phosphate - more than half a century after mining there was abandoned.
The government is in favour of renewed mining but there is fierce resistance from environmentalists and locals.
Don Wiseman asked Walter Zweifel, who has been following the story, how big the project is.
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Abandoned port at Temao harbour, Makatea island was used in earlier times of phosphate mining. Photo: Sardon