Fortescue, WA should pay for land ‘devastation’, court hears
The Yindjibarndi people are entitled to compensation for economic and cultural or spiritual loss from Fortescue Metals or the West Australian government over mining on their land in the state’s northwest, the Federal Court has been told.
The native title owners have been engaged in a protracted dispute over compensation related to Fortescue’s Solomon iron ore hub in the WA Pilbara.
The lands of the Yindjibarndi covers 13,000 square kilometres of WA’s iron ore-rich Pilbara. Yindjibarndi Energy
At a court hearing in Roebourne on Monday, counsel for the Yindjibarndi said the mining operations had caused devastating destruction, affecting about 250 significant Aboriginal sites.
The court was told in such circumstances, the Indigenous owners were entitled to compensation for economic loss, which could be the responsibility of Fortescue or the government, and also for cultural or spiritual loss.
In the case of economic loss, if Fortescue was found to be responsible, then the amount of compensation could be calculated on the basis of what other miners had paid in similar circumstances.
If the government was liable, then it could be determined on what a reasonable administration would be willing to pay.
In the case of cultural loss and the loss of access to the land, a monetary figure should be applied based on what the Australian community would consider appropriate and fair in the circumstances.
“The circumstances here are the great wealth that is being generated for the state and the miner, and the absolute devastation and destruction that has been brought upon Yindjibarndi country and the consequential spiritual damage,” Yindjibarndi’s counsel told the court.
The Yindjibarndi were awarded exclusive native title rights to
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