SYDNEY (New South Wales, Australia): An Australian Federal Court has ordered mining company Fortescue to pay 150 million Australian dollars (about US$ 108 million or Rupees 1037 crore) in compensation to the Yindjibarndi people of Western Australia for cultural damage caused by iron ore mining on their traditional lands without consent.
The ruling relates to Fortescue’s Solomon Hub mining operations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, where the court found that large-scale mining activity resulted in significant harm to Indigenous cultural heritage, including the destruction and disturbance of numerous sacred sites.
Judge Stephen Burley at the Federal Court of Australia Judge ruled that Fortescue had caused “significant damage” to the cultural heritage of the Yindjibarndi people of Western Australia.
He concluded that the miner was liable to pay 150 million Australian dollars in compensation for cultural loss, and another 100,000 Australian dollars for economic loss.
Burley said 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 (that) the harm done to their country as a result of the mining are plentiful and un-contradicted.”
However, the Solomon Hub Project, Fortescue’s iron ore mining operation in Western Australia, had prevented them from accessing more than 135 square kilometers of their land, he said. He pointed out that the area had been fenced off because it was “too dangerous to enter” due to the mining infrastructure, including open-pit mines, a railway, a tailings dam and waste dumps.
The Yindjibarndi people brought a claim against the miner and the Western Australian state government for 1 billion Australian dollars in cultural loss and more than 800 million Australian dollars in economic loss, arguing it should be paid a share of the profits from the mine.
The Yindjibarndi people had argued that mining operations were carried out on their ancestral lands without their permission, leading to both cultural and economic losses. The case is part of a broader native title framework in Australia, which recognizes Indigenous land rights and allows traditional owners to seek compensation when those rights are impacted.
Under Australian native title law, courts assess compensation for both economic loss and non-economic harm, including cultural and spiritual damage. In this case, the court awarded a comparatively small amount for economic loss alongside a much larger sum for cultural harm, reflecting a growing recognition in Australian jurisprudence of the importance of intangible heritage.
Fortescue, one of Australia’s largest mining companies, operates several large iron ore projects in Western Australia and has been involved in multiple legal disputes over land access and Indigenous agreements. The Solomon Hub has been central to the Yindjibarndi claim, which has been before the courts for years and is regarded as one of the significant native title compensation cases in the country.
The decision is among the largest Indigenous compensation awards in Australian legal history and is expected to have implications for how future mining projects assess consultation and agreement requirements with traditional landowners.
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