Indonesia is the country with the largest nickel reserves in the world with 21 million tons. In recent years, the country has seen a race between miners for control of this huge nickel reserve.
As an essential ingredient in electric vehicle batteries, nickel is expected to bring wealth to the Southeast Asian country, where the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the number of poor here to 10.19%.
But those living on the remote island of Obi, which has recently become the site of one of Indonesia’s largest nickel mines, just want clean water and safety.
Unlike other minerals used to power electric vehicles such as cobalt and lithium – which have been implicated in environmental destruction and human rights abuses – nickel’s supply chain has so far been largely untouched. careful assessment.
Children play on Kawasi beach as a mining company’s port construction work is still going on along the coast.
Mining companies operating on Obi say their works pose no threat to the local community. Yet in Kawasi village on the island, people are scared. One villager, Richard, says that since the mines appeared, the water has become dangerous to drink.
“Before, before the company, even though we lived without electricity, we were still safe. Now we’re scared,” Richard said. Water samples near Kawasi that were taken and tested at government-certified laboratories revealed high levels of contamination from hexavalent chromium (Cr6), a cancer-causing chemical.
The villagers also said that since the mine arrived, people have fallen ill.
The village’s midwifery clinic reported more than 900 potentially deadly acute respiratory infections (ARIs) among Kawasi’s approximately 4,000 residents in 2020. More than half of the cases are reported. is in infants or toddlers four years of age and younger.
According to Indonesian health officials, the incidence of ARI in Kawasi is just under 20% by 2020, compared with the national average of 9%. Apart from the midwifery clinic, there are no local medical centers operating in this village.
“Difference [kể từ khi bắt đầu khai thác niken] is very large. The beach was still clean then, the sea water was not muddy like this and was not red yet. People still fish on their doorstep,” a nurse who has lived in the village since 2009, before the mine started operating, said. “The trend of higher ARI cases started at the same time as exploration,” This nurse added.
“I kept thinking: is there a future for the kids?”, Maria, who grew up in the village said.
A mine worker shows a photo of raw nickel.
Despite being extremely remote, it is not surprising that so far so few activists or journalists have visited the island of Obi to speak to the people. Because from the capital Jakarta, visitors will have to take a flight lasting three and a half hours, then take an overnight boat and another two hours at sea to reach the port of Kawasi village.
And as soon as you get off the train, you can hear the constant creaking and knocking of the cranes as they distribute loads around the busy mining sites. The $1 billion Obi mining project is owned by Indonesia-based Harita Group and China’s Lygend mining company, which digs and processes nickel for use in vehicle batteries. electricity.
Chinese battery component maker GEM has signed an agreement to buy nickel from Lygend. GEM supplies battery components to many of the world’s leading electric vehicle battery manufacturers, including the Chinese-owned CATL group, which controls about 30% of the global battery market.
The ultimate beneficiaries are likely to be the best-known brands of electric vehicles, with nickel from these mines being used to make batteries for cars sold by Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen.
Booming nickel prices and “battery arms races” have caused mine development to boom, but there are concerns that regulatory oversight has not kept pace with development.
Indonesian nickel miner Steven Brown said: “Surname [chính phủ Indonesia] is trying to remove the red ribbon to make the industry more attractive to attract investment, but without proper environmental assessments, it could be at risk the way the industry is heading. next.”
The land and forests around Kawasi are occupied by the mining company.
Matthew Baird, an environmental lawyer based in Southeast Asia, says it is difficult to hold mining companies and supply chains accountable for pollution, especially when there can be multiple sources of pollution. .
“These massive mining operations take place a lot in hard-to-reach areas and where they’re acting as the economic hubs of the region,” he said. he said. “Miners could be to blame for other problems and all could be right, but because they are there, it is likely that they are contributing to the problem.”
In Kawasi village, water samples were Guardian Collected from a fountain less than 200 meters away from the mining site and tested at government-certified laboratories, it found high levels of contamination from the Cr6 carcinogen of 60 ppb (parts per billion). – or 60 parts per billion). The maximum contaminant level allowed by Indonesian law is 50 ppb.
Cr6 can cause liver damage, reproductive problems, and developmental harm when ingested or inhaled. Long-term exposure through drinking water has also been linked to stomach cancer. Evidence has shown that Cr6 in drinking water may be the result of industrial processes.
The fountain from which the samples were taken is the upper area of Kawasi village. And this is also their only source of water for drinking, bathing and washing vegetables.
A home water tank.
“The effects of [loại hình khai thác] This is persistent, long-lasting and in some subtle ways. Something management systems are often not equipped to deal with,” Attorney Baird said.
Meanwhile, a representative of Lygend company said that ARI is popular in developing countries, especially in tropical regions. The company offers solutions that include complete nutrition for children from the time they are in the womb, proper hygiene in the home, and awareness raising through education.
In the wake of accusations of unsafe levels of Cr6, the company said tests it carried out on Kawasi’s spring water between 2013 and 2021 showed it met water quality standards set by the government. coating, with the resulting Cr6 content in the range of 5 to 40 ppb. The company also said its tests showed no leakage of Cr6 from its system or affecting the water quality of the Kawasi areas.
The Lygend representative also said that the positive and negative impacts of their projects have been assessed in an environmental impact analysis, which has been reviewed and approved by the government. The company also said that the provincial and district environmental offices regularly conduct field inspections to review the company’s operations and take samples for analysis if necessary.
Mercedes-Benz said it took the allegations seriously and was immediately contacting its direct supplier to clarify the issues raised, although the automaker did not directly contact the manufacturer. buy nickel.
Refer Guardian
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