Analysis-Australia’s mine fight reignites tensions over Aboriginal heritage By Reuters

By Melanie Burton

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Wiradjuri elder Nyree Reynolds calls his home west of Sydney Bilabula Valley, the indigenous name for his river. The river features in the Wiradjuri stories of the creation of their land, she told state regulators, “And no one has the right to destroy that.”

Over her objections, the Australian government in August ordered the miner Regis Resources (OTC:) to find a new dam site for a US$1 billion ($685 million) gold project on the grounds that the proposed rock and chemical waste storage site would irreparably harm the river’s adjacent crop.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s decision under a rarely used Aboriginal heritage protection law has sparked protests from mining groups who say Regis (NASDAQ: ) has followed all due process and the decision poses a sovereign risk to developers.

The government action adds to the uncertainty miners have faced since iron ore giant Rio Tinto (NYSE: heritage.

At least three other resource projects face review, as Regis did, under Section 10 of the Act which allows Aboriginal people to apply to protect areas important to them when other legal avenues have failed.

“You can get all the state environmental approvals, all the federal environmental approvals and at the end of the process a section 10, … essentially a federal minister can … make your project unviable,” said Warren Pearce, CEO of the company. Association of Mining and Exploration Societies. “This is the definition of sovereign risk.”

While Reynolds opposed the Regis mine, a local Aboriginal group representing the Wiradjuri people, authorized by the state to speak for cultural heritage, concluded that the project’s impact could be managed.

Regis said in August it was considering legal options after slashing the value of its project by more than $100 million.

The decision on Regis’ project was the second by the government in as many months to support indigenous groups against the miners.

ERA, majority-owned by mining giant Rio Tinto, is suing the government on procedural fairness grounds after it failed to renew the miner’s exploration lease on uranium-rich land.

Government officials and some investors say developers need to engage earlier and more deeply with indigenous groups when planning projects, but new laws governing heritage protection that would help the process have yet to arrive.

The government has not said when it expects to finalize the legislation. Only Western Australia has made some heritage reforms, leaving the industry to rely on a patchwork of old state legislation to manage heritage protection at a time when Australia markets itself as a supplier of ethical metals.

VOTES AT STAKE

Resource projects with notable Section 10 objections include miner Bellevue Gold’s plan to dig beneath a desert lake and Woodside’s (OTC: ) Scarborough project that will feed a gas plant in a region rich in ancient rock art that the government nominated it for UNESCO. World Heritage List. Both projects are in Western Australia.

But not all objections are created equal when it comes to politics, particularly if the centre-left Labor government faces an election in 2025.

Woodside is unlikely to face the same setback as Regis, said MST Marquee senior energy analyst Saul Kavonic, because the $12.5 billion Scarborough gas project is “extremely important from a policy for the Western Australian Labor Government’.

Plibersek’s office said it could not comment on the Scarborough project because the matter is under review.

Both Woodside and Bellevue said they take their responsibilities to manage Aboriginal cultural heritage seriously.

Bellevue said it has permission from the Tjiwarl Native Title Group to dig under the lake as part of a heritage management plan.

The government’s action comes after it failed in a referendum last year that sought to give Indigenous Australians special recognition in the country’s constitution and an advisory voice to lawmakers.

Some people believe the government is now acting to appease inner-city voters on the east coast who supported the referendum and who might want to vote Green over mining.

“Here’s a government trying to make themselves look good because they’ve absolutely destroyed the opportunity for us to have a voice in Parliament,” said Wonnarua man Scott Franks, who lodged three section 10s against the developments in the Hunter State , rich in coal. The valley and I lost them all.

When asked if she was addressing Green voters with her decision on Regis, Plibersek told reporters on August 28 that she had consulted widely: “I made the decision based on the facts.”

Australia’s Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, said the government was working hard with Aboriginal groups on new heritage protection laws.

“The Australian government is deeply concerned about the destruction of First Nations heritage values ​​anywhere in Australia,” McCarthy said in a statement to Reuters.

STRANGER RULES ON QUALITY

A key issue that needs to be addressed is clarifying exactly who developers need to consult to ensure that projects do not harm important sites on traditional lands or the lands of indigenous groups.

“Our whole goal is to remove that kind of uncertainty that people are dealing with to clarify who is speaking for the country,” Plibersek told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on 28 August.

Regis said he consulted with 13 different groups and individuals during the permitting process.

“Regis takes its relationship with Aboriginal stakeholders across our operations very seriously and has led extensive engagement with Aboriginal parties from the outset of the approval process,” it said in a statement to Reuters.

To help miners manage consultations on Aboriginal heritage protection while the rules are being reviewed, the Responsible Investment Association Australasia, which counts 75 per cent of the country’s institutional investors as members, has worked with First Nations, the government and mining giant BHP on the most good practices.

“Current laws remain inadequate, which is why we need investors and corporations themselves to step up,” said association co-CEO Estelle Parker.

Among its recommendations, the association urges miners to adhere to free, prior and informed consent, which can be withdrawn at any time.

The guidance is “ambitious and likely unrealistic,” law firm Ashurst said in a 2024 report, but advised miners to familiarize themselves with it.

“Be aware that federal estate laws will change. When it does happen, it will be closer to the expectations expressed in these recent publications than to the current legal framework.”

($1 = 1.4601 Australian dollars)