"Nickel miners linked to devastation of Indonesian forests", 8 October 2023

US carmaker Ford, Brazil’s Vale, China’s Tsingshan and Hong Kong’s Jardine Matheson are invested in Indonesian nickel projects responsible for the clearance of large swaths of some of the world’s most biodiverse forests.

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But deforestation, coupled with waste, pollution, high carbon emissions and displacement of villages, has put pressure on the government and miners to clean up their act and on carmakers to search for alternative sources of nickel, such as Australia. [...]

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Brazilian mining group Vale operates three of the top five projects with the highest level of deforestation. Vale’s Soroako, Pomalaa and Bahodopi sites on the island of Sulawesi show 19,638h of deforestation since 2014. Vale has partnered with China’s Huayou Cobalt and Ford on Pomalaa.

Vale said it had rehabilitated 13,527 hectares of forest as of February — roughly 3,500 within its concessions and 10,000 outside — and its “leading standards in environmental stewardship and land management” were consistently recognised by the Indonesian government. It added it had cleared 5,481 hectares of land on its concessions.

A mining and production project on Sulawesi co-owned by local Indonesian company Bintang Delapan Group and its joint venture partner China’s Tsingshan, shows nearly 2,738h of canopy loss since 2010, according to Mighty Earth.

United Tractors, a subsidiary of Astra International, which is controlled by Hong Kong’s Jardine Matheson, last month bought a 20 per cent stake in Australia-listed Nickel Industries. Nickel Industries is a Tsingshan affiliate and owns a majority interest in the Hengjaya Mineralindo project. Around 271 hectares of that concession has been deforested, according to Mighty Earth Analysis.

“United Tractors will monitor and encourage good mining practices in Nickel Industries’ mines, including reclamation,” United Tractors said, adding that long-term the EV sector would help decarbonise the Indonesian economy.

Ford and Tsingshan did not respond to requests for comment. Huayou and Bintang Delapan did not respond to requests for comment.

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