“Nickel workers powered the EV battery boom. Now, layoffs have hit.”, July 23, 2025

… Since 2020, the government has pushed for domestic nickel processing, especially to feed China’s booming electric vehicle industry. Indonesia last year accounted for 61% of the world’s refined nickel…

Many of these windfalls can be traced to the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP)…

IMIP is partly owned by China’s Tsingshan Holding Group, the world’s largest nickel processor, and hosts 53 companies. It employs about 86,000 Indonesians, 16,000 Chinese workers, and 24,000 contractors…

But the boom may be slowing. As carmakers such as BYD and Tesla switch to cheaper lithium iron phosphate batteries that do not use nickel, demand has dropped. Oversupply by Indonesia’s smelters has driven down prices..

The environment has been destroyed by mining and smelting… As people now rely on wages from nickel, layoffs will cause poverty…