June 9, 2025
JAKARTA – The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has temporarily suspended nickel mining operations on Gag Island in Raja Ampat pending a field verification, following public concerns over their proximity to a marine conservation area.
“We are halting operations temporarily for field verification. We will investigate,” Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said on Thursday in Jakarta.
“Raja Ampat has many conservation and tourism zones, but there are also areas designated for mining. This is what we are currently verifying on-site,” he said.
Other institutions, including the forestry and the maritime affairs ministries, are also proceeding with verification to identify any potential violations in the area.
Southwest Papua’s archipelagic regency of Raja Ampat is a designated UNESCO Global Geopark and one of the country’s top tourist destinations for diving and snorkeling.
Gag Nikel operates a mine on its namesake island, which is estimated to have nickel ore reserves of over 42 million dry tonnes, according to Antam’s 2023 annual report. The mine also contains the company’s third-largest volume of limonite and saprolite ore.
Operations began in 2018 after the miner obtained a contract of work in 1998 and an environmental permit in 2014. It also holds an operating license that covers the entirety of Gag Island, which is a protected tropical rainforest.
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Arya Arditya, acting president director of Gag Nikel, said the company “fully respects” the energy ministry’s decision to halt its mining activities.
“Gag Nikel holds all required permits and operates sustainably under good mining practices. We are prepared to submit all necessary documents for verification,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
Arya also said the company’s mine was located within the designated mining area under the Raja Ampat spatial plan, outside the marine conservation area and UNESCO Global Geopark, and was closely monitored by the relevant ministries.
Gag Nikel said it had implemented various sustainability programs since it was issued an exploitation permit in 2017 and began its operations the following year.
These included rehabilitating 666.6 hectares of watershed, reclaiming 136.72 ha of mined land and restoring 1,000 square meters of coral reefs, as well as constant monitoring of environmental quality, all of which remained well below regulatory thresholds, Arya said.
Marine wealth
Meanwhile, the social media hashtag #SaveRajaAmpat went viral on Thursday after Greenpeace Indonesia launched a campaign against nickel mining activities on Gag Island.
Covering a marine conservation area of roughly 2 million ha that is home to stunning undersea landscapes, Raja Ampat is a top destination for diving enthusiasts. Gag Island is located 30-40 kilometers west of Piaynemo Island, a prominent marine tourism icon in the regency known for its striking karst formations and biodiversity-rich ecosystem.
In 2023, the regency attracted around 20,000 domestic and foreign visitors, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data. While Gag Island lays 5 kilometers outside Raja Ampat Marine Park, damage to its marine ecosystem could have a wider impact on the protected area as a whole, Kompas.com reported in 2022.