North Province, New Caledonia in the context of Geography of New Caledonia

Belep (French: [belɛp]; sometimes unofficially spelled Bélep; Nyâlayu: Dau Ar) is a commune in the North Province of New Caledonia, an overseas French territory of France, located in the Pacific Ocean. It has almost 900 people living on 70 km.

The commune's territory is made up of the Belep Islands (also known as the Belep Archipelago), which lie to the north of New Caledonia's main island (Grande Terre). The two principal islands in the Belep Archipelago are Art Island (a.k.a. Aar) and Pott Island (a.k.a. Phwoc). The rest of the archipelago consists of the Northern and Southern Daos Islands, and several very small islets.

Népouite is a rare nickel silicate mineral which has the apple green color typical of such compounds. It was named by the French mining engineer Edouard Glasser in 1907 after the place where it was first described (the type locality), the Népoui Mine, Népoui [fr], Poya Commune, North Province, New Caledonia. The ideal formula is Ni₃(Si₂O₅)(OH)₄, but most specimens contain some magnesium, and (Ni,Mg)₃(Si₂O₅)(OH)₄ is more realistic. There is a similar mineral called lizardite (named after the Lizard Complex in Cornwall, England) in which all of the nickel is replaced by magnesium, formula Mg₃(Si₂O₅)(OH)₄. These two minerals form a series; intermediate compositions are possible, with varying proportions of nickel to magnesium.

Pecoraite is another rare mineral with the same chemical formula as népouite, but a different structure; such minerals are said to be dimorphs of each other, in the same way as graphite is a dimorph of diamond. Népouite, lizardite and pecoraite are all members of the kaolinite-serpentine group.