Indonesia seizes land from Chinese-backed Weda Bay Nickel in mining crackdown

[JAKARTA] Indonesia has seized hundreds of hectares of land from nickel miners, including Chinese-backed Weda Bay Nickel (WBN), citing the absence of required permits to operate in forest areas. The action is part of a broader crackdown on illegal mining practices by the forestry task force, launched earlier this month.

Febrie Adriansyah, a prosecutor at the attorney-general’s office, said on Friday (Sep 12) that the task force confiscated around 148 hectares (ha) operated by WBN. One of the world’s largest nickel mines is situated on the land.

The company is a joint venture controlled by China’s Tsingshan Holding Group, France’s Eramet and Indonesia’s state-owned Aneka Tambang.

The seized land represents only a small portion of the company’s total 45,000 ha “contract-of-work” area.

In a statement, Eramet Indonesia, the minority shareholder, said that it is fully committed to complying with regulations while assessing the situation.

“We respect the decisions of the Indonesian authorities and fully support WBN in working closely with the authorities to ensure all activities meet legal and regulatory standards.”

It added that the seized plot was a rock quarry for construction material, not the mining extraction site, and that it did not expect a significant impact on WBN’s operations.

The task force also seized 172.8 ha from local nickel miner Tonia Mitra Sejahtera in South-east Sulawesi, citing mining activities conducted in forest areas without the required borrow-use permits.

The crackdown is a part of President Prabowo Subianto’s push against illegal and poorly regulated mining, which he said is a major problem in South-east Asia’s largest economy.

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In August, Prabowo estimated that illicit mining could cost the state up to 300 trillion rupiah (S$23.5 billion), and said that the authorities had identified more than 1,000 illegal mines and 5 million ha of illegal palm oil plantations.

So far, the task force has identified 4.2 million ha across 51 companies that lack proper forestry permits, underscoring the vast scale of the government’s regulatory enforcement effort.