SNestled chest-deep in the Moluccan Sea, just outside the rolling chimneys of the world’s largest nickel industry, Upin adjusted his mask and dove. Although his people, the Bajau, are known to remain underwater for more than 10 minutes, Upin quickly surfaces. He carries a sturdy metal disc over the side of the dugout canoe.
“Since the factory arrived, we haven’t caught much fish,” he says, grimacing at the murky waters.
“The ocean is getting warmer and there is more pollution. My skin is itchy, but I can’t help it. Collecting scraps is the only way I can survive.”
Nickel has transformed life on the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi, Halmahera, and Ob. Over a decade, the region has grown from a modest ore exporter to one of the world’s leading metals refiners. Remote areas of the countryside were modernized at once.
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On top of that: Upin and his wife Jeni and son Riski steer the boat past the nickel factory on Morowali Island. Since the factory opened, drinking water has been contaminated and fish are no longer plentiful. – All images by Per Liljas
Under: Open-pit nickel mining causes erosion and sedimentation of sludge in local waterways.
Currently, around 200 smelters and 200,000 factory workers are based here, with more likely to be added in the future. As demand for nickel to power batteries and electric vehicles soars, Jakarta hopes the industry could be its ticket to becoming a developed country by 2045.
For now, it’s pushing its competitors out of the water. Indonesia produces about half of the world’s nickel, but prices have fallen so low that most other producing countries are operating in the red. Australian miners BHP and Glencore announced in February that they may exit metals altogether.
The secret to Indonesia’s success is cheap coal, cheap ore, cheap workers, and Chinese money. But this means paying a high price for local people, the environment and workers.
In Kurisa, a village in Upin on Sulawesi’s east coast, the air is acrid with the smell of metal. There is a smelter on one side of the village and a coal-fired power plant on the other.
“The air is fine today,” said Upin’s neighbor Fauzia.
“Some days there is thick smoke. Children are coughing and feeling dizzy. Last week, a baby died from breathing difficulties.”
Indonesia has the world’s largest nickel reserves, but the concentration in ore is very low. Just refining it to battery quality, or even producing stainless steel, is an incredibly energy-intensive process. This is supported by a boom in the construction of coal-fired power plants.
Jakarta created a loophole in its goal to phase out coal to benefit the nickel industry. New coal-fired power plants connected to nickel smelters are allowed to be built, as long as they close by 2050, as this metal is essential to the green transition. With this, the country set new records for coal consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
“Calling the nickel industry part of the green transition is a joke,” says Muhammad Tawfik, coordinator of JATAM, an organization that advocates for a fairer mining industry in Indonesia.
“It’s good that jobs are created. But it also destroys the ecosystem and people’s livelihoods.”
“This water is starting to turn orange.”
Juhardi sits outside his home in Krysa, wrestling with pieces of plastic pipe. When I woke up after finishing my night shift at the factory, the water supply was turned off. This is not unusual.
“We used to draw water from the mountain, but then the water started turning orange.”
Water samples taken from various locations along the coast have shown high levels of heavy metals originating from mines and refineries.
In a river near the town of Kurisa, which is popular for fishing, nickel concentrations were more than 15 times the World Health Organization’s guideline level. Concentrations of hexavalent chromium, a contaminant made famous by the Oscar-winning film Erin Brockovich, were more than five times higher than WHO guidelines for drinking water.
A former environmental engineer at a nickel company isn’t surprised.
“During audits, my supervisors often told me to hide environmental violations,” said the man, who requested anonymity to avoid being disqualified from future employment.
He showed images on his phone of pools of reddish liquid inside the industrial area and outside its boundaries. “Floods always occur during the rainy season, and contaminated water flows into the environment.”
Many of the residents of this area had their land bought out. Some people talk about their experiences of being forced out. The residents of Krysa live in houses on stilts over the water and do not have title to the land. Young and healthy people took factory jobs because there were no other opportunities. Juhardi said the work was difficult because safety measures were inadequate.
“Yesterday, two trucks collided. Instead of reporting it, my boss said I should fix the truck and the driver. Companies should fix the accident so they don’t have to pay compensation or stop work. They cover it up. That means they never learn and new accidents happen every day.”
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Nickel industry workers returning home from work in Morowali. Directly in this industry he employs more than 100,000 people and indirectly he employs more than 150,000 people.
A catastrophe occurred on Christmas Eve last year. The explosion at the smelter claimed 21 lives.
Video of the aftermath quickly went viral. They show workers jumping from buildings engulfed in flames and smoke. Some are lying on the ground struggling in agony. Over the next few days, the employee shared the victim’s identity on her internal WhatsApp group.
Among the names, Juhardi found the name of her cousin’s son, who was seriously injured. Juhardi contacted his parents by phone, and this was the first news his parents had heard about their son, even though five days had passed. Eventually they found him at the hospital.
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Juhardi is repairing water pipes at his home in Krysa, a village sandwiched between a coal power plant and a nickel smelter. “Since the factory arrived, we have had problems with water supply,” he says.
“I am extremely disappointed in the company’s slow response,” Juhardi said.
Media reported on the explosion at home and abroad. One trade union leader said the government was determined to convict those responsible but did not want another scandal.
Spokesperson of PT Indonesia Chingshan Stainless Steel, a subsidiary of PT Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park on Morowali Island told ABC at the time of the explosion. He will cooperate with the investigation.
“We sincerely apologize for this accident and are working closely with the authorities to investigate the cause of the accident,” he said.
Other changes are already underway, with Western car companies such as Volkswagen and Ford investing directly in Indonesian refineries to secure nickel supplies.
This could encourage change. Amy Boulanger, executive director of the Responsible Mining Assurance Initiative, an organization that sets global standards for best practices in the mining industry, said the Indonesian government and several mining organizations have begun discussions with the Indonesian government. Stated. .
“Previously, car brands were five to 12 steps away from the mining industry. With them investing directly in the mines, there is an increased awareness of the conditions in the mines,” Boulanger says.
“Indonesia is on a roll right now. Will it become known for responsible mining or will it become the new Congo?”
