An empirical estimate of the land footprint of nickel from laterite mining in Indonesia

Nickel is one of the main industrial metals and an essential element for the energy transition towards renewable sources. The metal is increasingly sourced from surficial laterite-type deposits, especially in Indonesia where large investments have been made in its mining and processing infrastructure. The direct land use and land cover (dLUC) change associated with this kind of mine development is not accurately known, although this parameter plays an important role as a master variable in modelling of various environmental effects such as impacts on biodiversity, water quality and greenhouse gas emissions. We have measured the growth of the total land occupied by the booming Indonesian nickel industry over the last two decades and have linked the obtained dLUC change to the country's declared ore production. Our methodology is based on simple visual interpretation of mine areas using Google Earth Pro, allowing for easy verification. The analysis indicates a land transformation factor of 0.7 +/- 0.1 m2 per ton of nickel ore, which is up to 20 times larger than previous estimates. Our revision of this factor might be of importance in discussions about the socio-ecological impact of nickel mining in Indonesia and for management policies designed to mitigate its consequences.