Clip of mining fire is from Colombia, not Indonesia

Indonesia has revoked the permits of several mining companies in Raja Ampat following public outcry over environmental damage in the eastern islands. But local police said rumours of residents burning a nickel firm’s excavators are untrue; the false posts misrepresent a clip from Colombia.

“On Sunday, June 8, 2025, at around 12:00 Papua Time, indigenous people in Raja Ampat Regency burned down an excavator owned by a nickel mining company operating in their customary territory,” reads an Indonesian-language Facebook post on June 8, 2025.

It includes footage of a helicopter flying over an open area in the middle of the forest where several excavators are on fire.

“This action was a form of community anger and rejection of the presence of the extractive industry, which is damaging the environment, threatening living space, and ignoring the rights of indigenous peoples.”

Similar posts also spread elsewhere on Facebook and on TikTok after Greenpeace Indonesia published videos showing environmental damage to three islands because of nickel mining projects (archived link).

The NGO’s campaign led to growing calls by politicians and celebrities for mining licences to be withdrawn.

The government subsequently revoked permits for four of five companies operating in the cluster of islands in the Coral Triangle, a popular diving spot considered one of the world’s most pristine reefs.

But there have been no official reports about the alleged protest mentioned in the posts.

“As of today, there is no burning incident in the mining site,” Anis Dj, spokesperson of the police force in Southwest Papua Province that oversees Raja Ampat, told AFP on June 12.

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes found the video posted on Instagram on June 5, 2025. The caption says it was filmed in Colombia (archived link).

Further keyword searches found a similar clip showing the same landscape and burning equipment was earlier uploaded to Facebook by Colombian media outlet Región Al Día on May 25, 2025 (archived link).

It says the video depicts the operation to close an illegal mining site in the rural area of Antioquia in Zaragoza, Colombia.

A further search found an article published by the official site of the Colombian police that featured a corresponding picture (archived link).

The operation was done by the Colombian National Police and the Aerospace Force to counter “illegal exploitation of minerals in the rural area of the municipality of Zaragoza in the department of Antioquia”.