Exploitation Of Illegal Nickel Mines In Indonesia – OpEd – by Silvanah (Eurasia Review – February 19, 2023)

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Indonesia has abundant natural resources, especially nickel. Nickel is the raw material for making electric vehicle batteries. Electric vehicles are predicted to be low in emissions or environmentally friendly.

Developed countries are currently competing to produce electric vehicles. Indonesia is not left behind with big plans to form a company producing electric vehicle batteries. This has attracted the interest of foreign mining companies including China to enter and explore for nickel in Indonesia.

There are several foreign mining companies operating and holding exploration permits in Indonesia. Nearly 70% of nickel mines in Indonesia are controlled by companies from China.

Since October 2013, the 6th President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, in the middle of the Indonesia-China Business Luncheon at the Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta, have made a joint agreement to build a nickel smelter project with a capacity of 300,000 tons of ferronickel. per year in Morowali, Central Sulawesi, valued at US$1.1 billion. This agreement was then followed up with the development of the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP).

For the rest of this article: https://www.eurasiareview.com/19022023-exploitation-of-illegal-nickel-mines-in-indonesia-oped/