A federal court in Australia has mandated that mining company Fortescue pay A$150 million ($108 million) in damages to an Indigenous community for cultural harm resulting from unauthorized iron ore extraction on their ancestral territory.
This ruling represents one of Australia’s most substantial financial awards ever issued under native title legislation that acknowledges Indigenous peoples’ rights and connections to specific land areas.
Federal Court Justice Stephen Burley determined that the mining company, established by billionaire Andrew Forrest, inflicted “significant damage” on the cultural heritage of the Yindjibarndi people in Western Australia.
According to Burley’s findings, Fortescue’s Solomon Hub Project, the company’s primary iron ore extraction facility in Western Australia, had “completely destroyed” 124 heritage sites that the company had previously identified, while numerous additional sites suffered substantial harm.
