Journal of Applied Geology, vol. 8(1), 2023, pp. 85–90 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22146/jag.78116 Nickel as A Strategic Mineral and Its Potential Resources in X-Field, North Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia Dian Yesy Fatimah * 1 , Juvens Yuda Her Krissanto 1 , M. Nur Alif Pamunga 2 , and Rio P. Nugroho 1 1 Department of Geological Engineering, Faculty of Exploration and Production Technology, Universitas Pertamina 2 PT. Sinar Jaya Sultra Utama Received: September 30, 2022 | Accepted: December 1, 2023 | Published online: March 31, 2024 ABSTRACT. Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of Nickel laterite deposits. By the regulation of UU No. 3 2020, due to its utility as the main component of battery on electric vehicles (EV), nickel is a metal mineral that plays an important role in energy transition issues. It will drive the increasing demand for Nickel, and Indonesia needs a massive exploration and specific regulation, especially for this deposit. This research focuses on Ni’s importance as a strategic mineral and potential resource in North Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi. The methods are based on field data analysis and reference studies. X-Field is located on Lasolo Island, North Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi. This area has potential re- sources of Ni-laterite deposit. The lithological condition consists of a massive ultramafic igneous rock complex. The serpentinization process has already enriched the host rock. The geochemical analysis shows various ranges of 0.87–2.43 % Ni content from different soil zones. To this day, the government regulation of Ni in a specific way as a critical mineral is still not present. The lack of data transparency (supply chain) and policy syn- chronization urgently need to be solved. Keywords: Nickel · Strategic mineral · Sulawesi · Electric vehicle. 1 I NTRODUCTION Indonesia is the world leader in nickel produc- tion. According to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Nickel production in Indonesia reached 2.47 million tons in 2021. That value was mainly supplied by production from Sulawesi. The strange side of this fact is that as the main ’player’ in nickel, Indonesia still does not have specific regulations to gov- ern the practice of nickel production, process- ing, and selling. This condition potentially hin- ders the Indonesian government’s realization of nickel-related strategic planning, such as pro- * Corresponding author: D.Y. FATIMAH, Department of Geological Engineering, Faculty of Exploration and Production Technology, Universitas Pertamina. Jl. Teuku Nyak Arief, Simprug, Kebayoran Lama, Jakarta 12220. E- mail: dian.fatimah@universitaspertamina.ac.id ducing electric vehicle batteries and the defense industry. This paper presents the result of an inves- tigation of nickel characteristics from one of the producing mines as an example of what common nickel mines may contain besides just nickel. In addition, a brief explanation of the effect of nonspecific governing of nickel as a strategic mineral presents a picture of the po- tential implications. 2 GEOLOGICAL S ETTING/S ITE CHARACTER- IZATION Based on the physiography of Sulawesi (Van Leuween, 1994), Southeast Sulawesi consists of the Mandala Timur zone, an ophiolite belt influenced by Australian and Pacific plates. The area comprises Cretaceous-Miocene rocks 2502-2822/© 2023 The Authors. Open Access and published under the CC BY-SA license.