Eramet endeavors to respond directly to the person or organization raising a question. Bilateral meetings with follow-up can be organized to discuss the concerns of civil society and monitor the action plans implemented.
When information is received, it is integrated into the alert management mechanism, enabling rapid follow-up and processing of the request.
The Group also uses the online platform of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) to share its public statements. Eramet’s response rate is 100%.
Dialogue with the NGO Survival International
As part of the Sonic Bay hydrometallurgical project (HPAL plant), currently under feasibility study, to produce battery-grade nickel and cobalt intermediates from lateritic ore extracted from the Weda Bay mine, the NGO Survival International challenged the project partners through a social networking campaign on its concerns about the project’s impact on the O’Hongana Manyawa community. Eramet met several times with representatives of the NGO Survival International in 2023, in the presence of its partner BASF for the Sonic Bay project. These meetings were an opportunity for Survival International to express its concerns about the risks of mining for this community, and for Eramet to present the results of anthropological studies updated in 2023, some of which are still ongoing. These studies conclude that one family group belonging to this community is in regular contact, at their request, with the villagers and sometimes workers at the PT Weda Bay mine.
In 2024, discussions continue with the NGO.
Dialogue with the NGO Climate Rights International
Eramet was contacted by the NGO Climate Rights International as part of the preparation of their report In Nickel Unearthed: The Human and Climate Costs of Indonesia’s Nickel Industry which was published on January 17, 2024. Eramet responded to all the questions raised by the NGO. Regular follow-up with the NGO has been in place ever since. During these exchanges, Eramet reiterated that CSR was at the heart of its strategy and its commitment to implementing best practices in the field of the environment, biodiversity and human rights in all its operations. Eramet responded in detail to all the questions posed by Climate Rights International, which has published Eramet’s answers on its website.
Dialogue with French NGO Canopée
The Canopée association contacted Eramet in February 2024 to express their concerns about the impacts of the PT Weda Bay mine on biodiversity and the Tobelo / O’Hongana Manyawa community living in the Halmahera Forest in Indonesia. On February 14, 2024, Eramet headquarters hosted a meeting specifically for exchange. On this occasion it was recalled that, within the framework of its partnership with Tsingshan, Eramet pleads in favor a PT Weda Bay Nickel’s alignment with international IRMA standards, which are the particularly demanding. Respect for biodiversity and indigenous populations has been a priority for Eramet since the beginning of the project. Additional studies in these two areas are still underway.
Following the meeting, Canopée published a video and an article on its website containing several inaccuracies and material approximations (date, surface area, etc.), and even amalgams. The campaign organizers were asked to withdraw the images falsely associated with Eramet and to correct the factual errors contained in the original article. The commented version with factual clarifications is available online.