The federal court ruled in favour of the Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation in a culmination of its decades-long fight against the WA mine. Photograph: Phil Davies, Juluwarlu/Yindjibarndi Aboriginal CorporationView image in fullscreenThe federal court ruled in favour of the Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation in a culmination of its decades-long fight against the WA mine. Photograph: Phil Davies, Juluwarlu/Yindjibarndi Aboriginal CorporationWA’s Yindjibarndi traditional owners consider appeal against Fortescue’s $150m record native title payoutYindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation label federal court ruling against mining giant’s Solomon Hub iron ore operation ‘unsatisfactory’
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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.
Read moreThe 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.
“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].”
The mine, which has extracted millions of tonnes of iron ore over the past decade, has generated an estimated $80bn in revenue for Fortescue since operations began, but was approved by the Western Australian government without the permission of Yindjibarndi traditional owners.
Woodley said they were disappointed at the Western Australian government’s decision to side with the mining giant.
“The state government could have adopted a neutral position on the amount of compensation in this case and left the other parties to fight this out in court, but instead it argued against the Yindjibarndi,” Woodley said in a statement released on Thursday.
On Tuesday speaking outside the Perth courthouse, flanked by elders and community members who had travelled more than 1,500km south, Woodley told reporters that the decision was a “win” for Indigenous peoples in that the judge had expressed a deep understanding of the local people’s connection to their land and its spiritual and social ties to Country.
He said their legal team are reviewing the judgment and their battle for their land recognition and rights is continuing.
“We don’t get this far and stop.” Woodley said. “We’ll review it, we fight it. We’ve been fighting all our lives. I think the recognition needs to stand firm that this is our country. We’ve been here for a long, long time. We’re not going nowhere.”
In a statement, Fortescue said it would be reviewing the judgment reasonings when available by the court.
In the 2025 financial year, Fortescue reported revenue of US$15.5bn in its yearly update with profits of US$3.4bn.
