Vale Indonesia's Move to Combat Dirty Nickel Allegations

JAKARTA - President Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PT Vale Indonesia Tbk (INCO) Febriany Eddy responded to the accusations of dirty nickel made by western countries.

Febriany emphasized that her party rejects the accusations made regarding dirty nickel. She said that Vale is currently actively voicing Environmental Social Governance (ESG) practices to fight the dirty nickel stigma that is being thrown at Indonesia.

She gave an example of the negative stigma that was thrown, namely the dirty nickel stigma that said Vale produces high carbon because it uses coal.

"At PT Vale, our smelting process is already 100 percent hydroelectric power. So, we are among those with the lowest carbon intensity," said Febriany in Mining Zone which was quoted on Saturday, August 24.

The second accusation faced is the stigma of deforestation in the mining process. Febriany said that in reality, Vale has been actively carrying out progressive reclamation both within and outside the mining concession area since the beginning.

"And currently, if we look at the amount of land that we have rehabilitated, it has reached 250 percent of what we opened. So, it is far above what we opened yesterday. We have closed it and we are reforesting outside the concession," continued Febriany.

Febriany said regarding the stigma of the red sea and red river, she claimed that PT Vale's mining runoff water was managed very carefully in a fairly long process after meeting quality standards until it could be released into water bodies.

"In Sorowako, our mine happens to be very close to Lake Matano. So the mine runoff that has been managed according to quality standards ends up in Lake Matano. We have to be very careful there because Lake Matano is also a source of drinking water. This lake is an ancient lake with special endemics there," she explained.

Then Febriany also revealed that Vale also has a nursery or breeding center in Pomalaa, Kolaka, Southeast Sulawesi which was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo in 2023.

Furthermore, Febry said that the dirty nickel accused by western countries is not only from the environmental side but also targets social aspects such as work safety.

"For us, the most important value in our company is life matters most. Life is the most important thing. So for us, safety is no longer a priority because if it is a priority, you choose. For us, it is a must. So safety is always there," she concluded.