ABC Indonesia'sThe small fishing village of Kurisa is home to the Bajau people, an indigenous group known for being brave sailors, formidable fishermen and reliable divers who live off the sea."The seawater is warmer now and there are no fish to catch," he said.Sakka and other fishermen believe "the company" neighbouring their village is responsible, pointing to water that empties into an estuary a few hundred meters from their homes.
IMIP primarily processes nickel ore for stainless steel but now is increasingly producing higher-grade nickel for electric vehicle batteries. The ban "ushered in a new era of growth and prosperity for the people of Indonesia," according to Indonesia Chamber of Commerce chairman Arsjad Rasjid, with the mining sector now contributing more than 12 per cent to the country's gross domestic product.
The International Energy Agency predicts global demand for the metal will grow at least 65 per cent by 2030, and EVs and battery storage are set to take over from stainless steel as the largest end user of nickel by 2040. Battery makers including South Korea's LG Energy Solution and car makers including Ford, Toyota and Hyundai have announced billions of dollars' worth of investments in Indonesia-based nickel processing plants to secure supplies of the metal as they ramp up electric vehicle production.High-pressure acid leach processing is used to extract the high-grade nickel required by electric car battery manufacturers from limonite ore, one of the lower-grade ores abundant in Indonesia.
HNC's parent company, Huayou Cobalt, said it is using "dry stack technology" licensed by the Indonesian government. The nickel industry in Indonesia has also brought economic and social benefits to villages, small businesses and thousands of people working in the industry. As a field supervisor, he is paid 8 million rupiah per month, not including overtime, and his income allows him to save some money.
Piles of abandoned garbage litter the Trans Sulawesi Highway — a landfill and integrated waste treatment plant will reportedly be built next year — and a local health authority has linked high rates of respiratory infections to coal dust."In general, the impact is good because it helps a lot of people, but environmentally it needs to be re-evaluated, for example about the impact on the ocean.""It was blue before, now it's half-brown.