SOROWAKO, Indonesia, March 30 (Reuters) – Indonesia will improve monitoring of environmental standards for nickel mining, amid concerns over production of the metal which is increasingly used in electric vehicle batteries, the country’s President Joko Widodo told Reuters on Thursday.
The Southeast Asian country, which has the largest nickel reserves in the world, will step up scrutiny of mining and order companies to manage nurseries to reforest depleted mines, said the president, who is widely known as Jokowi.
Nickel mining and smelting has become a major part of Indonesia’s economy, with billions of dollars of global investment flowing in to the country after the government banned exports of unprocessed ore in 2020.
However, environmental groups have said Indonesia’s nickel production has polluted key production sites in Sulawesi and Maluku islands, even turning waters in some coastal areas red. Miners have also been accused of land grabs, while workers in some mines have protested over weak safety standards.
For the rest of this article: https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/indonesian-president-pledges-nickel-mining-clean-up-amid-ev-led-boom-2023-03-30/