Every large index fund in the world now possesses a part of Indonesia's nickel belt, whether its investors know it or not. That is the grim math behind a fresh report from the UK-based Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC), which followed 326 allegations of human rights and environmental abuses down China-affiliated critical mineral supply chains in 24 countries between 2023 and 2025. Indonesia alone accounted for 96 of them ' nearly one-third of the world total ' almost exclusively tied to its nickel sector. Now, nickel has outpaced copper as the mineral most commonly linked to these allegations. The deadliest single event was a 2023 furnace explosion at a smelter linked to the Tsingshan complex in Morowali that killed 21 workers. Three more died since 2025 in the failure of tailings dams storing toxic mining waste. Researchers estimate that waste might grow tenfold in five to 10 years if current expansion goes unchecked. Not an ounce of this is concealed. This publication has...
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