Palawan, a stunning tropical island in the Philippines has been called one of the most beautiful places on earth. But 300 miles south of its pristine beaches, a giant swath of Palawan’s rainforest was destroyed decades ago, making way for one of the world’s largest nickel mines, Rio Tuba. And now, the current majority owner, Nickel Asia, has an ambitious plan to expand into more of the rain forest, adding the equivalent of nearly 4,700 football fields to the mine.
Global demand for nickel is surging, where it is expected to grow 10 times over the next decade experts say. The diversification of where nickel is mined is definitely underway. There’s a significant amount of momentum towards different part of Asia. This is because nickel is increasingly used in the stuff that powers our lives. Things like tablets and smartphones, but the biggest demand for nickel right now, it’s the batteries in electric vehicles (EVs).
The majority of the world’s largest nickel producers are in Southeast Asia. Indonesia has been the world’s largest, with an annual production of 400,000t (about 27% of the global nickel supply), followed by the Philippines with 347,000t and New Caledonia, with 210,000t.
The EVs sales are going to be surging over the rest of this decade and leading the way, is Tesla, United States’ top seller of EVs and desperate for the resources to make their clean energy cars go. Last year, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk said, “Any mining companies out there, please mine more nickel, Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time. If you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way.” But reports found that nickel mined from the Philippines rainforest via processing factories in Japan goes to Tesla in California.
When it comes to the rain forest, every tree counts in the battle against climate change. Once destroyed, restoration is difficult. A stark reminder that even clean energy comes with an environmental cost.
