Fortescue in title dispute with WA Aboriginal group

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/fortescue-in-title-dispute-with-wa-aboriginalgroup/story-e6frg8zx-1225896777532 Sarah-Jane Tasker, The Australian, July 26, 2010 FORTESCUE Metals has been accused of "declaring war" on a WA Aboriginal group, after negotiations for a heritage survey turned sour. The Jidi Jidi Aboriginal Corporation in Western Australia has been negotiating the terms for a heritage survey to allow Fortescue access to land in the Pilbara region to explore for iron ore but the two groups have hit a stalemate on the agreement. Georgina Riley, native title holder and director of JJAC, said despite Andrew Forrest's high profile as a friend to Aboriginal people, his company did not appear to care about the group's views. "We had just reached agreement on terms of access with Fortescue, when they came back adding a whole lot of unacceptable terms that amount to a gun at our head," Ms Riley said. "We are supportive of companies that want to use our land and that treat us with respect, but Mr Forrest's company's threats are causing concern that his people will just go out and smash our sacred places to find their precious iron ore." Start of sidebar The group has called on Mr Forrest, who is widely celebrated for his initiatives to support Aboriginal people, to enter the negotiations to finish the deal. Mr Forrest champions many indigenous causes, including Generation One, a public awareness campaign to lift indigenous living standards through employment, and the Australian Employment Covenant, which has a goal to provide 50,000 jobs for unemployed Aboriginal workers. A Fortescue spokesman said it was "ridiculous and disappointing" to suggest the miner did not take its Aboriginal heritage obligations seriously and argued that only the price was in dispute, as both parties had agreed that a survey should be conducted. "When negotiations reached a stalemate due to unrealistic and unacceptable terms requested by JJAC, it refused to attend independent arbitration, at Fortescue's cost, as part of a dispute resolution process that JJAC had committed to under an agreement with the state government," the spokesman said. "Fortescue has acted reasonably in its negotiations with the JJAC at all times, and the state government has endorsed Fortescue's approach." It is understood that Jidi Jidi demanded an annual payment from Fortescue, for the life of the tenement, which was unacceptable to the miner because it had nothing to do with the heritage survey. Marcus Holmes, a partner at Taylor Linfoot & Holmes and spokesman for Jidi Jidi, said negotiations had now moved back to "square one".

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