JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has allowed a controversial nickel mine to resume operating in the marine haven of Raja Ampat, despite a company-commissioned study finding the project has harmed the environment and community health in one of the world’s most biodiverse marine ecosystems.

State-owned miner PT Gag Nikel resumed working on Sept. 3 on Gag Island, a small island in the Raja Ampat archipelago, after the government lifted a moratorium imposed in June.

Officials said the company had complied with environmental requirements, citing its “green” rating on the environment ministry’s annual assessment of companies’ environmental and social performance.

Tri Winarno, head of mining and coal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said the decision was made jointly with the environment ministry and the marine affairs ministry.

A green rating, he noted, means a company is “comply[ing] with all environmental governance plus community empowerment.”

Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq echoed this, adding Gag Nikel would still undergo increased monitoring.

“As directed by the president, even though we did not revoke Gag’s license, the supervision must be layered. We have done this, so we will regularly increase the intensity of visits to Gag,” Hanif said as quoted by Bisnis.com.

He added his ministry has introduced “additional components and variables of oversight” into the company’s environmental permit.

But this official assessment contrasts sharply with a 2024 study funded by Gag Nikel itself, which found environmental and health problems linked to dust and erosion from its operations.

The report, based on interviews done by Sorong Polytechnic Institute with 50 island residents and workers, found two-thirds of respondents said the company’s operations had polluted the environment, while 44% said the mining had harmed health.

Some respondents reported worsening coughs and flu linked to dust from the mine, while fishermen said sedimentation had driven fish farther out to sea.

“Fishermen who used to catch fish in waters around the villages are now fishing areas further away with a distance of about 2 hours,” the authors wrote.

Besides sedimentation, the marine ecosystems were also damaged by barges ferrying nickel ore out to processing facilities, the study noted.

“Barge boats that dump anchors can drag corals on the anchor disposal area more than 20 meters [66 feet] causing the coral to be damaged,” the authors of the study wrote.

For activists, the findings underscore that the government’s repeated claims of minimal impact can’t be trusted.

‘Green’ label disputed

Hilman Afif, a campaigner at the environmental NGO Auriga Nusantara, said administrative statuses like the annual environment ministry rating or official permits can’t justify mining in Raja Ampat, often called the “Amazon of the seas” for its extraordinary biodiversity — home to 75% of the world’s coral species and more than 1,700 species of reef fish.

“The ‘compliance’ label is nothing more than formal legitimacy that hides real destruction,” Hilman told Mongabay. “To this day, there has been no transparency or independent scientific data on the state of the coral reefs, plankton, or long-term monitoring of the mining’s impacts.”

Timer Manurung, Auriga’s director, also questioned the green label.

“I find it baffling when a mine is labeled ‘green,’ especially a mine on a small island, which regulations clearly prohibit. On top of that, the impacts of mining on small islands are not limited to the land itself, but also extend to the surrounding marine ecosystems. Has the government ever calculated the impacts of mining on Gag Island on those marine ecosystems?” he told Mongabay.

Officials, however, have maintained that Gag Nikel’s footprint is minimal. During a site visit in June, the energy and mineral resources minister, Bahlil Lahadalia, said he saw no signs of pollution, and dismissed online media posts showing coral reef damage as “false.” The marine affairs ministry also claimed its own diving inspections found little sedimentation in the surrounding waters.

Yet this doesn’t square with the government’s claims about other, non-state-owned, mining companies operating in the same archipelago. It cited the same sedimentation and deforestation issues linked to Gag Island to revoke four other nickel concessions in Raja Ampat earlier this year. But when it came to Gag Nikel, it only temporarily suspended — not cancelled —the company’s license. This despite the fact that the mine is on a small island, where mining is banned under a 2014 law on coastal areas and small islands.

Antam, the state-owned parent company of Gag Nikel, has itself admitted the operation isn’t fully compliant. In June, Antam CEO Achmad Ardianto acknowledged “there are several issues that need to be addressed,” but described them as “minor” and awaiting government guidance.

Outcry

The decision has sparked a backlash from environmental groups. More than 60,000 people have signed a Greenpeace Indonesia petition calling for an end to all mining in Raja Ampat.

“Mining activities carry a huge risk of causing sedimentation that damages coral reefs in Raja Ampat — the global center of marine biodiversity,” Hilman said. “Once the reefs are smothered by sediment, the habitat of thousands of marine species will disappear and the livelihoods of local communities will be threatened.”

Arie Rompas, head of Greenpeace Indonesia’s forest campaign team, said the government’s decision to allow Gag Nikel to resume mining shows “the greed of the government and corporations, which place environmental protection and human rights beneath short-term extractive profits.”

Bahlil, the mining minister, previously said Gag Island’s reserves are too lucrative for the government to give up, producing 3 million metric tons of nickel ore annually. Local leaders also support mining as a path to development.

Nickel from Gag Island is sent to the Weda Bay industrial park on Halmahera Island, about 250 kilometers away, a hub for Indonesia’s electric vehicle battery industry. Nickel is a critical input for stainless steel, lithium-ion batteries, and other clean-energy technologies.

But activists warn the cost will be too high. “No nickel is worth the destruction of the Raja Ampat ecosystem, which is often referred to as the last paradise on Earth,” Arie said.

Banner image: Documentation of Nickel mine PT. GAG Nikel, located on GAG Island, Raja Ampat District, West Papua. Image courtesy of Greenpeace.

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