 The guano, and since the 1950s also the rock and sand into which the phosphate had been leached, were mined away between 1906 and 1972 converting an island once densely forested to the current barren, pitted landscape.During that time, a small workers' settlement existed in the NW of St Pierre, which depended on supplies shipped in from abroad.The island is located 34 km west of Cerf Island of Providence Atoll, and 462 km east of Aldabra.