Yindjibarndi NGurra Tribal Corporation filed a historic case against the state government of Western Australia.
A tribal group is demanding 1.8 billion Australian dollars ($ 1.15BN) in damage from the state government of Western Australia, as it allowed a mining firm to set up an iron ore project on its ancestral land, which is a According to the filing of the court, without land use deal.
Australia’s Federal Court of Australia filing on Wednesday revealed that Yindajibardi Nagurra Aboriginal Corporation (YNAC) claimed that activity in the Solomon Hub run by Global Mining Firm Forteskue had severely damaged its land and people.
The case can prove a landmark in Australia because due to the amount of compensation being sought by the tribal group, as well as to potentially open the door from indigenous organizations to other claims from indigenous organizations for previous damage to their land.
The filing includes claims for 1 billion Australian dollars (about $ 637m) against the state government, which resulted in compensation of cultural damage as a result of the mining project, which authorizes it, as well as 678 million Australian Dollars ($ $ Damage to economic more than 431m).
Australia’s federal court is listening to logic this week, but a decision is not expected by the end of this year.
Should this matter be lost, the state government is expected to try to harm the world by sueing forceu in the fourth largest mine of the world’s iron ore.
Fortscue said in a statement to The Reuters News Agency that it “admits that Yinjibardi people are entitled to compensation” due to the project, but it is disagree with the group, but with the group.
The founder of the firm, Andrew Forest, is one of the wealthiest people in Australia and after his firm, recorded a net profit of $ 5.7BN in the last financial year.
In 2017, the Yinjibardi people won the exclusive basic title rights for the land covering the Solomon Mining Hub to the north of the Tom Price North of the city of Tom Price in Far Western Australia.
The original title is a legal principle in Australia that recognizes land rights for tribal groups.
The huge mineral-rich project of Fortscue, capable of yielding up to 80 million tonnes of iron ore a year, began in the region in 2012.
According to experts quoted by Yinjibardi people in their court filing, the Solomon mine has caused existence loss to tribal people through destroying aspects of their land and culture.
The report stated that the Fortscue project has damaged more than 285 important archaeological sites, as well as the story of six dreams or creation has also been damaged.
In tribal culture, the story track works as a map of holy sites, which carry the important cultural knowledge passed through more generations than millennium, and who become part of the understanding of the human settlements of Australia, Dating for about 40,000–45,000 years.
The report said, “significant losses for the country, people and dreams continue.”
