{"id":620332,"date":"2026-02-27T16:58:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T16:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/620332\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T16:58:17","slug":"native-title-holders-awarded-more-than-54m-for-economic-spiritual-loss-from-nts-mcarthur-river-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/620332\/","title":{"rendered":"Native title holders awarded more than $54m for economic, spiritual loss from NT’s McArthur River Mine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Native title holders for the land surrounding one of Australia’s largest mining operations have been awarded more than $54 million in compensation for “intergenerational and enduring” economic and spiritual loss.<\/p>\n

The court ruling is only the second of its kind in Australia’s history and could have implications for native title groups, governments and private industry around the country.<\/p>\n

The Gudanji, Yanyuwa and Yanyuwa-Marra traditional owners first took the Northern Territory government to court in 2020, arguing the establishment and expansion of Glencore’s McArthur River Mine, near Borroloola in the Gulf of Carpentaria, caused significant cultural, spiritual, economic and environmental damage to country.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The McArthur River Mine sits on one of the world\u2019s largest zinc, lead and silver deposits. (ABC News:\u00a0Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

In a decision handed down in Darwin on Friday, the Federal Court found the Northern Territory government liable for compensation for that damage.<\/p>\n

Justice Katrina Banks-Smith awarded the group of traditional owners $54 million for non-economic or cultural losses and $743,408 for economic loss, plus interest.<\/p>\n

In her judgement she said there was no doubt the impact of the mine’s operations went beyond the physical effects on the claimants’ country.<\/p>\n

“It is intergenerational and is enduring,” she said.<\/p>\n

“As the aphorism goes, sometimes the site of the pain is not the site of the injury.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Justice Banks-Smith said her assessment of cultural loss had regard, among other things, to the “irreversible” spiritual damage caused by the diversion of the McArthur River in 2007 to expand the mine, which was allowed by the then-Northern Territory Labor government despite outcry by traditional owners.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Justice Banks-Smith ruled the diversion of the McArthur River in 2007 to expand the mine had caused “irreversible” spiritual damage. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

She said she also had regard for the impact of “the inability of the claim group to stop that disturbance or to continue to protect the dreamings”, as well as the inability to access sacred sites, the inability to continue the transfer of knowledge and customs across generations and “the cultural sensitivities that flow from what is regarded by some as a failure to care for country.”<\/p>\n

The compensation figure awarded to the claimants is far larger than that awarded in the High Court’s landmark Timber Creek decision in 2019<\/a>, but less than a quarter of the $225 million the group’s lawyers had argued for<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Justice Banks-Smith said the amount was what she considered “would be society’s social judgement on what is appropriate, fair and just compensation”.<\/p>\n

“Where there is no algorithm, no tariff and little precedent, forming a reasoned view as to that figure is complex,” she said.<\/p>\n

Traditional owners, native title body welcome ruling<\/p>\n

Outside court Gudanji traditional owner Chris Pluto welcomed the decision but said he would be carrying on his father’s fight for his country.<\/p>\n

“It made me feel good that the judge recognised the damage that’s happened to our country because of this mine,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But we’ve still gotta keep fighting.<\/p>\n

“At the end of the day, we want our country back. The damage will keep happening if we don’t get it back.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Gudanji, Yanyuwa and Yanyuwa-Marra Native Title Holders outside court in Darwin after the ruling was handed down on Friday. (Supplied: Northern Land Council)<\/p>\n

In a statement, the National Native Title Council (NNTC) congratulated the claimants, but said too many native title holders face lengthy battles in court to win what was owed to them.<\/p>\n

“Hundreds of traditional owner organisations nationwide are owed compensation for past and continuing acts,” NNTC chief executive Jamie Lowe said.<\/p>\n

“Unpaid monies owed represent lost economic development and investment opportunities for First Nations communities.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jamie Lowe says hundreds of traditional owner organisations nationwide are owed compensation for past and continuing acts. (ABC News: Julian Robins)<\/p>\n

“Today’s decision demonstrates why Australia needs a National Compensation Framework that delivers fair, timely redress processes when Traditional Owners’ rights are impacted.”<\/p>\n

The reasons supporting the judgement are subject to an interim suppression order sought by Glencore, which is yet to comment publicly on the decision.<\/p>\n

The Northern Territory government is also yet to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Native title holders for the land surrounding one of Australia’s largest mining operations have been awarded more than…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":620333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,265534,17342,265536,265535,50249,50,71067,178698,157060],"class_list":["post-620332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-australia","tag-borroloola","tag-compensation","tag-cultural-spiritual-economic-loss","tag-mcarthur-river-mine","tag-native-title","tag-news","tag-nt-government","tag-payout","tag-traditional-owners"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116143660216174310","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}