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Choking hazard: How North Maluku nickel industry suffocates local villagers
Widely hailed as a critical mineral that helps push the energy transition, the mining and processing of nickel in Central Halmahera regency, North Maluku, brings distress to people living around the mineral’s industrial park.
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Smoking barrels: A nickel smelting and processing site operated by PT Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP) is seen on Feb. 20 in the background of the Lelilef Sawai village in Central Weda district, Central Halmahera regency, North Maluku. Residents have complained about pollution from the industrial park that has caused people to fall sick. (Courtesy of Supriyadi Sudirman/-)
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tesya Tania dashes back and forth between the shop she attends and her bedroom where she checks on her perpetually ill daughter, Putri. Since they moved to Gemaf village in Central Halmahera regency, North Maluku, in 2021, her daughter has suffered from constant fever, wet cough and shortness of breath.
Doctors diagnosed Putri with asthma, Stesya said, forcing her parents to take their four-year-old daughter to a nearby clinic almost every month.
She blames Putri’s sickness on the dust from a nickel mining and processing complex owned by PT Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP), located only 500 meters from Gemaf. The dust comes not only from passing trucks and heavy machinery on the village road, but also from the coal-fired power plants powering the facility.
“The house is swept clean every morning and evening, yet there is still ash that gets into the nooks and crannies,” the 23-year-old mother explained during an interview on Feb. 19. “It even gets into the bedrooms, and that’s what makes the children sick.”
Promoted as a project to push the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy in Indonesia, the nickel mining and processing facility by IWIP in Central Halmahera uses coal to power the industry, at the cost of the environment and local residents’ health.
IWIP is managed under a Chinese joint venture between the Tsingshan Group, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. Ltd. and Zhenshi Holding Group Co. Ltd, with an initial budget of US$7.5 billion for the nickel project.
The nickel facility, which began its operation in 2018, is located among Gemaf in North Weda district, Lelilef Sawai and Lelilef Woebulen villages in Central Weda district, around four hours by car from the provincial capital of Sofifi.
