The state of Western Australia has agreed to pay an Aboriginal community compensation for prior actions, such as awarding mining leases on their traditional grounds. This decision establishes a precedent that will give Indigenous people more influence over future developments.
Since Rio Tinto’s iron ore mining activities destroyed ancient rock shelters that revealed human occupancy dating back 46,000 years ago, the state has been strengthening its legislation to protect Indigenous cultural heritage.
The Tjiwarl people of the state’s northern Goldfields region had three claims for native title compensation, and the Western Australian government claimed it had struck a “historic settlement” with them over those claims and a future land use agreement.
For actions including approving roads and granting leases that injured or ruined the group’s legal rights over their traditional lands, the state will compensate the Tjiwarl Aboriginal Corporation 17.3 million.
The new agreement eliminates the need for future compensation claims and gives the Tjiwarl a bigger say in future developments by miners and others on things like water management and mining or petroleum licenses. Additionally, it increases the group’s conservation area and returns some land parcels to Tjiwarl.
Among the miners who have now paid their debts is Bellevue Gold.
BHP Group, which declined to comment, and its nickel operations entered into a land use agreement in 2018; as a result, they were not included in the settlement. Leinster nickel operations are on Tjiwarl and Mt Keith lands. Bellevue was contacted for comment.
The state government said in a statement late on Wednesday that the deal “lays the foundation for a strong relationship between the WA Government and Tjiwarl Native Title holders into the future.”
Chief Executive Greg Ryan-Gadsden expressed his satisfaction with the settlement in a statement on behalf of Tjiwarl Aboriginal Corporation.
“We are hopeful that it provides a foundation to guide other native title groups to reach similar outcomes.”
Nearly all of the mining parties who may have had an obligation as part of the first compensation claim have already addressed that liability, according to lawyer Malcolm O’Dell of Central Desert Native Title Services, who was involved in the negotiations.
