Nauru Phosphate Corporation

Following the collapse of phosphate mining in 2002 due to the virtual exhaustion of financially viable resources, repatriation of many foreign workers began. From 2004 to 2005, foreign workers were reduced from 1,478 to 470. Most of the workers were from Kiribati and Tuvalu.

On 1 July 2005, during a managerial restructuring, the Nauru Phosphate Corporation formally changed its name to the Republic of Nauru Phosphate Corporation to signal change. Today, RONPhos currently employs 20.4% of the working population of Nauru.

Although the initial layer of phosphate has been mined out (approximately 100 million tonnes), a secondary level of phosphate is believed to exist, holding nearly 20 million tonnes of minable resources. RONPhos is beginning to develop plans for its economical extraction.