An Aboriginal group is seeking 1.8 billion Australian dollars ($1.15bn) in damages from Western Australia’s state government after it allowed a mining firm to establish an iron ore project on its ancestral land without a land use deal, according to court filings.
The Federal Court of Australia filings, revealed on Wednesday, showed that the Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation (YNAC) claimed that activity at the Solomon hub, run by global mining firm Fortescue, has severely damaged its land and people.
The case could prove a landmark one in Australia due to the amount of compensation being sought by the Aboriginal group, as well as potentially opening the door to other claims from Indigenous organisations for past damage to their land.
The filings include claims against the state government for 1 billion Australian dollars (almost $637m) to compensate for cultural damage caused as a result of the mining project that it authorised, as well as 678 million Australian dollars (more than $431m) for economic losses.
The Federal Court of Australia is hearing arguments this week, but a ruling is not expected until late this year.
Should it lose the case, the state government is expected to try and recoup losses by suing Fortescue, the world’s fourth-largest miner of iron ore.
Fortescue said in a statement to the Reuters news agency that it “accepts that the Yindjibarndi People are entitled to compensation” due to the project, but it disagrees with the group “on the amount of that compensation”.
The firm’s founder, Andrew Forrest, is one of Australia’s wealthiest people and his firm recorded a net profit of $5.7bn last financial year, after tax.
In 2017, the Yindjibarndi People won exclusive native title rights for land covering the Solomon mining hub, about 60km (37 miles) north of the town of Tom Price in remote Western Australia.
Native title is a legal doctrine in Australia recognising land rights for Aboriginal groups.
Fortescue’s vast mineral-rich project, which is capable of yielding up to 80 million tonnes of iron ore a year, started in the area in 2012.
According to experts quoted by the Yindjibarndi People in its court filings, the Solomon mine has caused existential damage to the Aboriginal people through destroying aspects of their land and culture.
The Fortescue project has damaged more than 285 significant archaeological sites, as well as six Dreaming or creation story tracks, the report said.
In Aboriginal culture, story tracks serve as a map of sacred sites, carrying important cultural knowledge passed down through generations over millennia, and which form part of Australia’s understanding of human settlements dating back about 40,000-45,000 years.
“The significant harm to country, people and Dreamings remains ongoing,” the report said.
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