Aboriginal Corp Making Money from Mining Giant скачать в хорошем качестве

Aboriginal Corp Making Money from Mining Giant

This is the Pilbara region, a large, dry, and sparsely populated area in the north of Western Australia known for its ancient landscapes, extremely hot and arid climate, vast mineral deposits—particularly iron ore—and of course, its Aboriginal people. However, the quest for mineral wealth and the preservation of Aboriginal culture have often collided, leading to significant tensions and disputes. Case in point: today’s news, “Cultural losses key to $1.8b damages claim by Pilbara traditional owners”. A bit of backstory first. In 2007, Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group began conversations with the Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation led by Michael Woodley. In 2010, a breakaway group known as Wirrlu-Murra Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation was established in the small Pilbaran town of Roebourne. In 2011, Andrew Forrest held a meeting in Roebourne with the breakaway group to discuss a land access agreement, with lawyers claiming that each person who attended the meeting was paid $500. The ABC reported at the time, “Tensions high during FMG native title meeting”, with accusations that the miner was trying to bully traditional owners into a land use agreement by backing a rival group of Yindjibarndi people who apparently supported his mining plans. In 2013, FMG began mining at the Solomon Hub iron ore mine with state government approval under the Barnett government, allegedly without permissions or discussions with native title holders. In 2017, the Yindjibarndi people were awarded exclusive native title rights over 2,700 square kilometres of land in the West Pilbara, including the area where the Solomon Hub mine site sits, potentially allowing the Indigenous people to sue Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue for millions of dollars in compensation. It should be noted that native title rights do not include minerals in the ground, as set out in the Western Australian Mining Act. With the gateway now open to potentially sue the mining giant, what do you think happened? The Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation went ahead and sued the mining giant! In 2023, “Yindjibarndi seek $500m compensation from Fortescue for mining their land”. But less than two years later, in 2025, the $500 million figure has since been revised upwards (probably due to inflation), “Cultural losses key to $1.8b damages claim by Pilbara traditional owners”. According to the ABC article, “Compensation has been requested for economic loss, cultural loss, specific destruction of sites, and the cost of providing psychological services to heal community trauma allegedly caused by FMG's ‘social disruption’.” FMG disagreed with the multi-billion-dollar figure, with the ABC reporting, “FMG's written submissions put total economic loss for impairment of Yindjibarndi people's native title rights at $95,197 with simple interest added”, which works out to be approximately this much iron ore as shown in Mr Forrest’s hand. But a drop in the iron ore ocean that is the Pilbara. Senior Counsel Griff Ranson (this is Griff Ranson, I believe), argued, “The freehold value of this land is very low, leaving aside the issue of including the value of minerals. It's not the North Shore of Sydney. It's very remote.” Lawyers for the Western Australian Government, said the billion dollar compensation request for cultural loss was “manifestly excessive”. They submitted that compensation between $5 to $10 million would be appropriate, well short of the $1.8b damages claimed. Fortescue claimed that ‘social division’ or ‘disharmony’ in the Indigenous community is not something that needs to be compensated for under the Native Title Act. However, Yindjibarndi’s lawyers argued that the spiritual loss involved is much worse than in say the Northern Territory’s Timber Creek case from 2019 where, “High Court awards Timber Creek native title holders $2.5m, partly for 'spiritual harm'”. I don’t know how you measure spiritual harm, but apparently it’s worth billions of dollars in this case. Counsel for Yindjibarndi, Tina Jowett, told the court, “Dingo dreaming tracks are still in the ground there in Timber Creek. My clients’ sacred sites and their dreaming tracks have been dug up by the tonne and they’re being carted off — not even to another Aboriginal group’s country. They’re being carted off to China.” In case you didn’t understand that, Yindjibarndi leader Michael Woodley explained it more clearly: “The great creative spirit Mingala gave ngaarda (humans) the huge responsibility of caring for the land. The land was bestowed as a sacred trust. It had rules for its use and responsibilities for its exploitation. This bestowal of land is understood by Yindjibarndi to constitute an 'inheritance.'” And if you still don’t get it, I’ll put in terms we can all understand. The spiritual harm in this case is worth AU$1.8 billion, thank you. MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn