Latoya Abulu, Silima Pungga-Pungga district, Indonesia – Rainim Purba first heard the rumor in 1996. Back then, in her mid-30s, villagers were saying a zinc mining company was going to operate near their village of Pandiangan, northeast of Indonesia's North Sumatra province. It would also be near other villages like Longkotan.
When rumor became reality, the company promised some residents jobs delivering logistics to workers in the hills, and others were promised to be employed in the mine.
Little did Rainim know at the time that she was going to spend two decades of her life joining women farmers to challenge the mine and set a legal precedent in the country. Along with 11 villagers, women led a lawsuit that ultimately won in court. When the environment ministry followed through with the ruling by revoking the company's environmental permit in May 2025, it marked a legal first: confirmation that an environmental permit of its kind, created through a controversial 2020 law, can in fact be challenged in court.
According to community activists, when the mining company PT Dairi Prima Mineral (PT DPM) first came to speak to villagers, they were never properly informed of the potential threats the mine could pose. Notably, this consisted of the plan to build a tailings dam in an area with frequent earthquakes, landslide risks and unstable volcanic ash.
"They just gave us a verbal notification, no outreach," she said. "It seems like they want to fool us."
Over the years, incidents began to crop up with villagers pointing to the mining company. During the exploration phase in January 2012, drilling resulted in a waste leak that polluted rice fields at the foot of the hills in Bongkaras village and the Sikalombun River. In 2018, logging in a forest to make way for the tailings facility that would hold waste was suspected by residents to be the cause of flash floods that destroyed agricultural land and homes and claimed lives.
The series of disasters raised concerns for the safety of those living in nearby villages. "From then on, I became worried and started fighting against it," she said.
Victory after victory in suing the mine
Women farmers initially formed groups in 2008 in 14 villages across the wider Dairi regency not to oppose the mine, but rather to advocate for women's rights.
"It wasn't until early 2017 that this group of women began to oppose the mine, as they began to understand the threat it posed if it were to operate near their village," said Monica Siregar, from Yayasan Diakonia Pelangi Kasih (YDPK), which supports and educates women on their rights in Dairi regency.
Farmers organized villagers to hold discussions, plan protests and meet with local officials. "These women organized themselves in their respective villages, even formulating aspirations to voice during street demonstrations," Monica told Mongabay.
In 2019, the mine, a subsidiary of the China Nonferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd., submitted an environmental impact analysis (EIA) addendum to allow the relocation of the waste disposal dam and explosives warehouse and the addition of a mine tunnel.
Richard Meehan, a consulting engineer focused on dam safety, wrote in an analysis that the construction of a tailings dam in the district is unfeasible due to its proximity to the earthquake-prone Great Sumatran Fault and the potential threat to the safety of residents living in nearby villages. There are 17,000 residents in 11 villages around the mine.
Hydrologist and geophysicist Steven Emerman found that the tailings dam planned by DPM had a list of shortcomings, including its design to accommodate only for a 100-year flood, not following international guidelines for a 10,000-year flood.
Together with the residents, the women gathered to challenge the addendum, attaching the two experts' analysis and participating in the EIA commission meeting, urging the ministry to withhold the mine's permit.
Instead of revoking it, the ministry issued its permit on Aug. 11, 2022.
Rejecting the decision, in 2023, 11 Dairi residents led by women farmers like Rainim filed a lawsuit to challenge it with the State Administrative Court in Jakarta, the capital. They had the legal assistance of the Joint Secretariat for Rejecting Mining (SekBer Tolak Tambang), a group that consists of BAKUMSU (the community's legal advocacy organization), YDPK, the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), Trend Asia, the legal aid foundation YLHBI and the Sajogyo Institute.
The women celebrated their victory when the panel of judges upheld the community's entire lawsuit, declaring PT DPM's permit null and void. The panel of judges also ordered the ministry to revoke the decree.
Disapproving of the ruling, the ministry along with the mine filed an appeal with the High State Administrative Court, which the High Court upheld.
Residents then decided to go higher and filed an appeal with the Supreme Court. On Aug. 12, 2024, they won again when the Supreme Court granted their lawsuit, upholding the previous State Administrative Court ruling.
However, the ministry of environment did not immediately execute the ruling. On May 19, 2025, residents traveled nearly 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) to Jakarta to protest in front of the ministry's office, urging them to act.
On the day of their protest, May 22, villagers were informed that the ministry had revoked PT DPM's permit the previous day. It posted a warning sign prohibiting operations in the mining area and prohibited any activity there.
"We are very happy; we are very proud. Our struggle was not in vain!" Rainim said.
'Until God takes my life'
Following the permit revocation, Dormaida Sihotang, 47, another female farmer living in Lae Haporas village, said their struggle was successful.
"I feel relieved after the company's permit was revoked," she said.
Rainim, who cultivates various crops on her farm including durian, coffee, snake fruit, chile peppers and other perennials, also said she no longer worries about living in the village and can now freely manage her agricultural land without fear.
According to Monica of YDPK, the revocation was thanks to the active and consistent role of women in resisting the mine's environmental permit.
However, this does not mean it is the end of the mine. The ministry stated that the mine will stop its operation until it gets a new environmental permit.
"If the process starts from the beginning, it means involving the community first," Rosa Vivien Ratnawati, the main secretary of the Ministry of Environment, told the media.
In November 2025, the ministry held a commission meeting to present the new environmental impact assessment, which was attended by village community representatives, representatives from district and Dairi government agencies and several NGO representatives. The company said that all community elements were represented at the meeting.
BAKUMSU said it was not invited to the meeting. YDPK, Monica said, did receive an invitation but it was a last-minute invitation. "So, we didn't have time to study the entire EIA document, which is more than 1,400 pages," she said.
In a December 2025 press conference, BAKUMSU explained that one of the proposed changes was that the company would replace its aboveground tailings storage facility by mixing its waste with cement and pumping it back into the underground mine cavity as backfill. Richard, the consulting engineer, said this wasn't possible.
"According to mining industry standards, only 50-60 percent of tailings can be reintroduced using this cement paste approach," hydrologist Steven said in a statement after looking at the environmental assessment.
BAKUMSU director Juniaty Aritonang urged the government not to consider the new mining proposal, pointing to a mining spill in Zambia by Sino-Metals Leach Zambia Ltd., owned by China Nonferrous Metal Mining (CNMC), which also owns the Dairi mine's China Nonferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd.
"A recent tailings dam collapsed in [Zambia's] Kafue River watershed, causing a flood of toxic waste to flow down hundreds of kilometers of the river. This waste killed fishes in the river. There were no more fish. It polluted the water supply. We don't want this kind of rogue operator in North Sumatra," she said.
Community activists worry the government will grant PT DPM a new permit as it had done with a cement factory in Kendeng, Central Java, which lost its license after local opposition only to be issued a new one.
PT DPM said the company is currently following the mechanisms and requirements set by the Indonesian government.
"We ensure that this environmental permit application includes mining methods based on responsible mining practices and meets all the required technical and environmental requirements," Radianto Arifin, chief legal and external relations officer of PT DPM, said in response to Mongabay this January.
For Dormaida, PT DPM's current actions and assurances will not stop her. "I will continue to speak out so that the government does not issue a new permit to DPM," she said.
Rainim also said the same. "I will continue to fight until God takes my life from this world."