Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Mining · Indonesia · 2025

Raja Ampat nickel licences revoked

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured. Disputed
What the record lacks: 2 none on record · 3 insufficient · 2 not measured · 2 disputed See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Was the environment in Raja Ampat damaged?
  • Communities and civil society Greenpeace: Reported destruction of more than 500 hectares. Fortune Asia
  • Government and regulators Bahlil Lahadalia, Energy Minister: Said the corals were not harmed. Fortune Asia

In June 2025 Indonesia revoked four of five nickel mining permits in the Raja Ampat islands. The state-linked company Gag Nikel kept operating.

4 of 5Nickel mining permits revoked in Raja Ampat
Fortune (AFP), 10 June 2025. The fifth, held by the state company Antam's Gag Nikel, continued.

Status As of June 2025 (the latest dated source): four permits revoked, Gag Nikel operating; no appeal or reissue of permits found in the sources reviewed.

What?
Indonesia revoked four of five nickel mining permits in Raja Ampat; the state company Antam's Gag Nikel kept operating. Fortune Asia
Where?
Raja Ampat islands, Indonesia. Fortune Asia
When?
Reported 10 June 2025. Fortune Asia
Who?
Gained
  • Antam (Gag Nikel) — Kept its operation running Fortune Asia
Lost
  • Holders of the four revoked permits — Lost their permits; names not given in the sources reviewed Fortune Asia
Harmed
  • Raja Ampat islands — More than 500 hectares destroyed, according to Greenpeace; the energy minister said corals were not harmed Fortune Asia
Why?
The grounds of the revocation are not given in the sources reviewed.
How?
Government revocation of four nickel mining permits. Fortune Asia
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

On or before 10 June 2025 the Indonesian government revoked four of five nickel mining permits in the Raja Ampat islands, according to Fortune (AFP). The fifth, held by Gag Nikel, a company of the state-owned Antam, remained in operation.

Greenpeace reported destruction of more than 500 hectares. Greenpeace videos about Raja Ampat had been viewed 15 million times. Indonesia's Energy Minister, Bahlil Lahadalia, said the corals in Raja Ampat had not been harmed.

The sources reviewed do not name the four permit holders or give the legal grounds of the revocation.

  1. 202510 June: Fortune (AFP) reports four of five nickel permits revoked; Antam's Gag Nikel continues; Greenpeace reports more than 500 hectares destroyed

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Was the environment in Raja Ampat damaged?
Communities and civil society
Greenpeace

Reported destruction of more than 500 hectares.

Fortune Asia
Government and regulators
Bahlil Lahadalia, Energy Minister

Said the corals were not harmed.

Fortune Asia
Why did one mine continue after four permits were revoked?
Press and investigations
Fortune (AFP)

The state company Antam's Gag Nikel continued operating.

Fortune Asia
Company or project
Antam / Gag Nikel

No statement appears in the sources reviewed.

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • Greenpeace videos about nickel mining in Raja Ampat had been viewed 15 million times before the permits were revoked
    Fortune Asia, 10 June 2025 · Fortune Asia

Recorded

  • Four of five nickel mining permits revoked
  • The state company Antam's Gag Nikel kept operating
  • Greenpeace reported destruction of more than 500 hectares
  • Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said the corals were not harmed

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: USD · Window: . All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • Bahlil Lahadalia, Indonesia's Energy Minister (2025-06): Said the corals in Raja Ampat were not harmed. · Fortune Asia

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. 2025–2025-06Claimant won
    Revocation of four nickel mining permits in Raja Ampat
    Government of Indonesia · Administrative · Government of Indonesia → Holders of four nickel mining permits (not named in the sources reviewed)

    Four of five nickel permits in Raja Ampat were revoked; the fifth, Gag Nikel, continued. The grounds and any appeal are not given in the sources reviewed. Fortune Asia

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Permits revoked
4 of 5
Fortune (AFP), 10 June 2025
Destruction reported by Greenpeace
More than 500 ha
A campaign organisation's figure; the energy minister said corals were not harmed
Independent ecological assessment
Not in the sources reviewed
No assessment appears in the sources

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
  • Disputed Was the environment in Raja Ampat damaged?

Figures

  • Insufficient Area (ha): Greenpeace's figure for destruction; the energy minister said corals were not harmed.

Accounts

  • Disputed Why did one mine continue after four permits were revoked?
  • None on record Antam / Gag Nikel: No statement appears in the sources reviewed.

Record

  • None on record The names of the four permit holders and the legal grounds for revoking their permits are not given in the sources reviewed.
  • Not measured The 500-hectare figure is Greenpeace's; the energy minister said corals were not harmed, and the sources reviewed give no independent measurement.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: Gag Nikel was said to continue because its operation lies outside the geopark boundary.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a law banning mining on small islands and public pressure were cited as the reasons the revocation worked, and it was said the permits could be reissued.

Did the harm stop?

Four of five permits were revoked; the fifth operation continued.

Who paid?

The sources reviewed do not state who bore the cost of the revocation. Greenpeace reports the damage fell on more than 500 hectares in the islands.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

Press and investigations

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.

Science and environment

Hectare (ha)
A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.