Frequent Accidents at Indonesian Mining Plants Raise Safety Concerns

Lianhe Zaobao announced on December 31 that while Indonesian President Joko Widodo is vigorously supporting Indonesia’s upstream electric vehicle industry, fatal industrial accidents have occurred one after another in the nickel mining town of Sulawesi. Although this will not hinder policy, it has sounded the alarm about workplace safety in the ore processing industry, and Joko also emphasized the need to strengthen safety measures.

Two smelter safety incidents occurred in Sulawesi province in the past two weeks. On December 24, 2023, an explosion occurred at the Indonesian Qingshan Stainless Steel Factory in the Morowali Industrial Park, causing at least 19 deaths and 40 injuries. The victims included eight Chinese workers. Just four days later, a fire broke out at the PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (GNI) smelter in North Morowalli County on the 28th. Fortunately, the fire was extinguished in time and did not cause any casualties.

Investigations into the explosion at Morowali Industrial Park are still ongoing. In an interview with the media after attending the 2024 general election coordination meeting in Jakarta on the 30th, Indonesian President Joko stressed the importance of safety control at smelting facilities. He said audits and inspections of smelting facilities must be strengthened and even inspected a second or third time to avoid accidents.

According to preliminary investigation results, there was residue at the bottom of the furnace at the nickel smelting plant where the incident occurred. When workers repaired the furnace, the residue flowed out and came into contact with surrounding flammable materials, causing an explosion.

Nickel is the main raw material used to make electric vehicle batteries and stainless steel, and Indonesia is the world's largest nickel producer, with Sulawesi being Indonesia's nickel-producing center. Joko has vigorously supported upstream raw material processing industries such as ore smelting and processing, and the nickel mining and processing industry has also received huge investments from Chinese companies. The majority shareholder of Morowali Industrial Park is China Tsingshan Holding Group.

Indonesia's nickel industry has experienced frequent industrial accidents in the past year. In December 2022, an explosion occurred at the GNI mine, killing two miners. In April 2023, two workers at the PT Indonesia Guang Ching Nickel and Stainless Industry factory in Morowali Industrial Park died possibly due to equipment collapse.

The environmental organization Indonesian Environmental Forum (WALHI) called on the Indonesian government to stop the nickel production operations in Morowali Industrial Park after the explosion in Morowali Industrial Park, and emphasized that the government should not only focus on the huge profits of the upstream nickel ore industry, but ignores the reality of companies not complying with safety regulations.

Siwage Dharma Negara, Senior Fellow and Co-Coordinator of the Indonesia Studies Program at the ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore, said in an interview with Lianhe Zaobao that the frequent occurrence of industrial accidents shows that safety measures are not implemented well in the industry and the government lacks supervision.

He said: "The recurrence of these accidents, and the lack of legal consequences for those who violate safety regulations, shows that the government prioritizes attracting investment and pays less attention to safety standards. Ideally, there should be no trade-off between investment and security, and both can coexist as long as there is strong enforcement. "

Sivag does not believe that this series of accidents will lead to the suspension of policies to support the upstream mineral industry. "The policy will continue, but this accident will be a wake-up call to improve safety and health standards in the industry. If such an accident occurs, the people very much hope to see the government take more severe penalties against the responsible parties."