Chinese Companies Heavily Invest in Indonesia’s Nickel Sector, Complaints about Working Conditions Abound
Chinese companies have invested more than $14 billion into Indonesia’s nickel sector over the past decade building smelters, refineries, a nickel museum and a new metallurgy school. Nickel’s primary applications are in stainless steel production, but the metal is also key to the fledgling electric vehicle industry because of its use in EV batteries. With most nations pledging to switch to battery electric cars over the next few decades, nickel is poised to see explosive demand. These Chinese companies have secured the metal’s supply for at least a decade. However, while producing green-transition metals such as nickel and creating job…