SYDNEY, May 12 (Reuters) – An Australian court on Tuesday ordered miner Fortescue to pay A$150 million ($108 million) in compensation to an Indigenous group for a cultural loss caused by iron ore mining on their land without their permission.
The decision marks one of the largest ever payouts in Australia’s history brought under native title laws recognising Indigenous rights and interests in certain parcels of land.
Federal Court of Australia Judge Stephen Burley ruled Fortescue caused “significant damage” to the cultural heritage of the Yindjibarndi people of Western Australia.
He concluded that the miner was liable to pay A$150 million in compensation for cultural loss and A$100,000 for economic loss.
Fortescue, founded by billionaire Andrew Forrest, said in a statement it accepted that the Yindjibarndi people were entitled to compensation.
“Dr Andrew Forrest and Fortescue care deeply about all First Nations people, including the Yindjibarndi community,” it said.
The Yindjibarndi people brought a claim against the miner and the Western Australian state government for A$1 billion in cultural loss and in excess of A$800 million in economic loss, arguing it should be paid a share of the profits from the mine.
The state government and Fortescue disputed the claim. Fortescue said it should pay no more than A$8 million in compensation for cultural loss and A$95,197 for economic loss.
Burley said in a summary judgment that the Yindjibarndi’s connection to their land was “deep and visceral … to the effect that their spirit, or wirrard, is destroyed when they see the harm done to their country as a result of the mining are plentiful and uncontradicted.”
But the Solomon Hub Project, Fortescue’s flagship iron ore mining operation in Western Australia, had prevented them from accessing more than 135 square kilometres (52 square miles) of their land, he said.
The area had been fenced off because it was “too dangerous to enter” due to mining infrastructure including open-pit mines, a railway, a tailings dam and waste dumps, he said.
The mining activity also destroyed many heritage sites.
“The data indicates that 124 of those sites have been completely destroyed by the operation of the mine and many more substantially affected,” Burley said.
“All was duly approved under government processes. However, none was done with the approval of YNAC (Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation).”
($1 = 1.3854 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal and Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Thomas Derpinghaus)
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