"Indonesia: Uncontacted tribe being destroyed for electric car batteries", 4 April 2023

A unique uncontacted tribe could be wiped out by a massive Indonesian project to produce nickel for electric car batteries.

A vast mining scheme on the island of Halmahera is part of Indonesia’s plan to become a major producer of electric car batteries – a plan into which Tesla and other companies are pouring billions of dollars.

But nickel mining is set to destroy vast areas of the forested interior of Halmahera. These forests are inhabited by 300-500 uncontacted members of the Hongana Manyawa tribe. If mining goes ahead as planned, they will not survive the destruction.

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The mining is illegal under international law as uncontacted tribes cannot give their Free, Prior and Informed Consent to the exploitation of their land, which is legally required for all ‘developments’ on Indigenous territories.

Nevertheless, Weda Bay Nickel (WBN) – a joint venture partly owned by French mining company Eramet – has an enormous mining concession on the island which overlaps with Hongana Manyawa territory. 

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Survival has learned that German chemical giant BASF is planning to partner with Eramet to build a refinery in Halmahera, and that a possible location for this will be on uncontacted Hongana Manyawa territory. 

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