JAKARTA: Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq is considering revoking the environmental licence for PT QMB New Energy Materials, a tenant at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi, following a fatal workplace accident and allegations of unlicenced waste dumping.
Speaking after a meeting with the Coordinating Food Minister Zulkifli Hasan in Jakarta on Monday, the minister, who also heads the Environmental Management Agency, highlighted repeated safety failures at QMB New Energy Materials.
“We are conducting an in-depth study and will soon formulate a plan to revoke the environmental approval,” Hanif told reporters on Monday.
PT IMIP spokesman Dedy Kurniawan said on Feb 19 that the landslide the day before occurred in a tailings area run by an IMIP tenant QMB New Energy Materials, which processes low-grade nickel ore using HPAL to produce mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), a key material for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
Operations at the tailings zone have been halted since Feb 19, Dedy said, Reuters reported.
Dedy added that “the preliminary cause is suspected to be soft soil conditions in the lower area”, adding that “several excavators, bulldozers and dump trucks were also swept up in the landslide”.
Tailings are the residual materials left after extracting the target mineral from ore.
They often consist of crushed rock, water, trace amounts of metals such as copper, mercury, cadmium and zinc, as well as processing additives, such as petroleum byproducts, sulfuric acid and cyanide.
IMIP is the largest nickel-processing hub in resource-rich Indonesia and has over 50 tenants, mainly producers of nickel products used in stainless steel and EV battery materials.
Chinese steelmaker Tsingshan Holding Group is one of IMIP’s shareholders.
The Environment Ministry’s review was prompted by concerns over dangerous working conditions and alleged permit violations. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
