01 June 2024
In early June 2024, the JH Hutasoit Auditorium at the Faculty of Animal Science, IPB University in Bogor was filled with hundreds of excited students attending a lecture on environmentally-friendly mining. This event was part of the "Harita Nickel Goes To Campus" (HGTC) program initiated by Harita Nickel, marking the fourth campus visit in this series.
Ir. Tonny Gultom, the Director of Health, Safety, and Environment at Harita Nickel, was the speaker for the lecture, titled “Mining the Future: Environmentally Friendly and Sustainable Nickel for Indonesia.” The talk was moderated by Dr. Ir. Iskandar, a lecturer in Land Resource Management at IPB University.
Tonny was joined by other Harita Nickel leaders, including Latif Supriadi (Head of External Relations), Dr. Retno Dewi Handayani (Green Mining Manager), Windy Prayogo (Environmental Marine Manager), and Dr. Irdika Mansur (Head of the Research Laboratory at IPB University).
The audience consisted of 229 students from various faculties, including Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, and Economics.
During the event, Tonny stated that Harita Nickel places the principles of Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) into all its operational activities. He provided examples of various reclamation programs aimed at restoring ecological functions to areas that have been mined.
Dr. Ir. Irdika Mansur, M.For.Sc., from IPB University, emphasized the important role of IPB alumni in the mining industry. He noted that alumni from various disciplines, including community empowerment, forestry, and post-mining land utilization, are greatly needed in this sector.
Students who attended the lecture reported gaining new insights. Niko Bakri, a student from the Forestry and Environment Department of Silviculture, stated, “I gained many new insights that the mining world is not only for mining engineering students but is also open to students from the Forestry Faculty.”
M. Faransani from the Agriculture Faculty, who studies Land Resource Management, shared a similar view. “I want to learn about environmental management in mining, and this event has taught me about reclamation and sustainability,” he said.
To keep students engaged, Harita Nickel organized competitions with the Student Executive Board (BEM) of the Agriculture Faculty, including an infographic contest, a creative video production contest, and an essay competition. These competitions aimed to promote discussions about sustainable nickel mining in Indonesia, with 57 students participating.
In addition to reclamation, Tonny mentioned that Harita Nickel also focuses on revegetation and using former mining sites for factories.
Harita Nickel is dedicated to preserving the quality of seawater around its operations by monitoring coral reefs and adding artificial reefs in Kawasi waters. These reefs provide homes for fish and marine life, helping to maintain biodiversity.
Latif Supriadi highlighted several economic empowerment programs by Harita Nickel on Obi Island, including the Gemar Papeda initiative and the Obi Food Resilience Center (Sentani). These programs have created 691 jobs and supported 65 local suppliers and 26 farmer groups. “There are about 30,000 employees on Obi Island, with monthly transactions reaching IDR 13.2 billion,” Latif said.
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