WA’s Yindjibarndi traditional owners consider appeal against Fortescue’s $150m record native title payout

Yindjibarndi traditional owners are considering an appeal against the federal court’s record $150m compensation payout, saying it is “unsatisfactory” and will not cover the cultural and financial losses suffered since Fortescue began mining their land.

On Tuesday, mining company Fortescue was ordered by the federal court to pay compensation to Yindjibarndi traditional owners for cultural losses caused by its multibillion‑dollar Solomon Hub iron ore mine, plus $100,000 for economic losses – the largest compensation payout in native title history.

Federal court justice Stephen Burley ruled in favour of the Yindjibarndi traditional owners, recognising their deep cultural ties to country and the trauma caused by the billion‑dollar mining operations. But the court’s finding on economic loss fell well short of what YNAC’s legal team had argued for.

The Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation (YNAC) launched the compensation claim in 2022 and sought $1.8bn, including $1bn for cultural damage, $678m for economic loss, $34.85m for the destruction of sites and $112.13m for social disharmony allegedly caused by Fortescue. The company sought to cap the compensation at $8m, while the WA government argued that between $5m and 10m would be appropriate.

The Yindjibarndi people gained exclusive native title rights to their land, including the area where the Solomon Hub mine sits, in 2017 after first filing a native title claim in 2003.

YNAC’s chief executive officer and lead applicant, Michael Woodley, said while the judgment was welcomed, it was also “unsatisfactory” because it calculated the value of the loss based on freehold land value rather than the royalties paid by mining companies in the region established by native title agreements.

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“Instead, in its judgment, the court, followed the precedent set by the 2018 high court case at Timber Creek in the Northern Territory, for which economic losses were assessed based on freehold land value.

“Given this, the headline amount that the court arrived at is unsatisfactory in the context of what has been lost,” Woodley said.

The Yindjibarndi traditional owner said that for his people, self-determination over their way of life, opportunities and economic activity is vital. “[It] means being able to determine and dictate how we continue to live our lives and how we grow our own nation through those opportunities that are being created and developed from our Ngurra [country].”