Deadly landslide in Indonesia causes four Chinese nickel factories to shut down, possibly for up to three months.

Last month, a deadly landslide accident occurred at a nickel waste site operated by a Chinese-funded enterprise in Indonesia, causing four Chinese-funded nickel processing factories to announce temporary shutdowns. This situation indicates that in the face of Indonesian authorities' increasingly strict regulation of the industry, related enterprises are forced to respond. According to sources, the four high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) nickel smelting plants operated by China's GEM Co., Ltd. in the Morowali Industrial Park on Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, have all been shut down for repairs to the waste site. It is understood that Morowali is a major nickel production center in Indonesia, and the combined capacity of the four factories accounts for 30% of Indonesia's total HPAL capacity. Sources stated that the Indonesian QMB New Energy Materials Co. Ltd., which had the accident, may be shut down for up to three months. QMB is the largest project among the four factories, with GEM Co., Ltd. as its main shareholder and Tsinghan Holding Group Co. from China as another major shareholder. The landslide accident resulted in the death of a worker, and the Indonesian government has threatened to revoke QMB's environmental license. In 2023, a major explosion occurred in Morowali, resulting in at least 21 deaths, which directly prompted the Indonesian government to increase regulation of the nickel industry. Sources also revealed that GEM Co., Ltd.'s other related production lines in the area have also been shut down, currently undergoing operational checks, with some factories expected to restart in a few weeks. The other three shutdown factories are PT Green Eco Nickel, PT Meiming New Energy Material, and PT ESG New Energy Material, all operated in partnership with GEM Co., Ltd. and Indonesian company Merdeka Battery Materials. At the time of writing, GEM Co., Ltd. and Morowali Industrial Park spokespersons have not commented on the matter; Tsinghan Holding Group officials have not responded to interview requests; and Merdeka Battery Materials spokespersons have declined to comment. It is reported that the HPAL process is mainly used to extract nickel metal required for electric vehicle batteries from low-grade nickel ore, generating a large amount of ore waste. Some experts have questioned whether such waste can be safely disposed of in a country like Indonesia, which experiences frequent heavy rainfall and earthquakes.