Traditional owners frustrated by the pace of talks with mining giant Glencore over protecting their sacred sites around the McArthur River Mine, have established a new negotiating body to help speed up the talks.
Key points:
- Glencore and traditional owners have been in talks about a land use agreement for the McArthur River Mine for two years
- Traditional owners have set up a new negotiating body to speed up the process
- The Northern Land Council says it is confident of brokering a “fair agreement” “in the near future”
Located about 70 kilometres south-west of Borroloola in the Northern Territory, the McArthur River Mine is the world’s largest zinc and lead mine.
And it’s getting bigger.
The huge slate grey mountain of the company’s waste rock dump can be seen from a ridge near the town Borroloola.
Traditional owner Josie Davey is devastated to see how it has expanded.
“I feel so sad every time we drive past and look at it,” she said.
“The mine has already damaged our sacred site in the river, and we’re just really worried about it.”
After pyrite iron sulphide in the dump started burning in 2014, Glencore has in recent years covered it with clay and other materials to keep it stable.
Glencore maintains the waste rock storage “continues to be safe, stable and non-polluting”.
The company also insists “the McArthur River system is in good health and the fish are safe to eat”.
But the dump is still leaching heavy metals into the McArthur River system.
The NT’s Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority has refused to approve Glencore’s plan to raise the height of the dump to 140 metres.
It fears the steep sides of the dump could collapse onto adjacent sacred sites.
Two years ago, Glencore began talks with traditional owners — brokered by the Northern Land Council (NLC) — offering an Indigenous Land Use Agreement on protecting sacred sites and the environment.
It was also to compensate traditional owners for the damage to the rainbow serpent dreaming caused by the mine ploughing through the McArthur River.
“I reckon there should be a compensation for the damage of the rainbow snake and I feel the traditional owners have been missing out all that time,” said Jack Green, a Garawa elder who is also Ms Davey’s husband.
“It would be good if there was an agreement in place before the mine gets too big.”
NT Mining Minister Nicole Manison has approved Glencore’s expansion of the mine while the negotiations continue.
The minister said sacred side protection was a critical part of the work that was happening at the mine.
“Everybody wants certainty in regards to that,” she said.
But after two years of talks, traditional owners are frustrated that damage to their land is increasing while they haven’t been compensated.
Many locals subsist on welfare in Indigenous town camps around Borroloola, where the NT government has struggled to fund enough public housing and fix roads.
“We have a billion-dollar mine just down the road and we still have housing problems and roads have holes in it. My people are still struggling,” said Borroloola community leader Maria Pyro.
The NT government has recently built 38 new and replacement houses in Borroloola, and Glencore puts $1.35 million a year into a community benefits trust to help fund local projects.
But Diane Derrick is among Borroloola residents who are frustrated the lucrative mine contrasts with their living conditions in a dilapidated, overcrowded house.
Behind her home, her cousin is having to move into a caravan.
“We need help and assistance,” she said.
“Some households benefit from having the mine here, but many of us are struggling and just feel swept under the rug.”
Mine site traditional owners have become so frustrated with negotiations they have formed a new body — the Gudanji Yanyuwa Garrawa Marra Aboriginal Corporation — to deal with the company directly, instead of through the NLC.
“I haven’t seen any progress at all and I was there when we set the talks up,” said Ms Pyro, who is a member of the new corporation.
“That’s why we’ve got together now, and we want it to progress in our way and in our time.”
To take over the NLC’s negotiating role, the new group would have to prove all the mine’s traditional owners support the new body.
The NLC said it “continues to stand behind traditional owners in their fight to protect their traditional lands affected by the McArthur River Project”.
“The NLC is confident that it has facilitated a process that will produce a robust and fair agreement in the near future,” it added.
In a statement, Glencore said it “remains committed to negotiating an Indigenous Land Use Agreement with traditional owners through the Northern Land Council”.
But Ms Davey said she had waited too long to be reassured that sacred sites would be protected and her land would be rehabilitated when the mine closes.
“I want to fix up the country; we want the mine to be fixed,” she said.
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