BHP has established a heritage advisory council with Banjima native title holders to inform the design of its $4.5bn South Flank iron ore mining operation, just three months after the mining giant received government permission to destroy at least 40 sites against the wishes of the Banjima people.
Guardian Australia revealed in June that the Western Australian government had granted BHP permission to destroy 40 Aboriginal heritage sites belonging to the Banjima people, in order to progress its South Flank development. A further 46 sites identified as sacred by the Banjima did not meet the threshold for the WA Aboriginal cultural materials committee to register them as a site, meaning they could be destroyed or damaged without permission.
Within hours of the initial report being published, BHP had backed down and said it “will not disturb the sites identified without further extensive consultation with the Banjima people”.
Ministerial consent to destroy the sites was granted by the WA Aboriginal affairs minister, Ben Wyatt, on 29 May, five days after the destruction of ancient rock shelters at Juukan Gorge by BHP’s main competitor, Rio Tinto, and three days after the incident had made global headlines.
The announcement of the new heritage council comes as Rio Tinto’s chief executive, Jean-Sébastien Jacques, is awaiting a board meeting that will decide his fate, as investors and Indigenous stakeholders call for heads to roll over the mismanagement of Aboriginal heritage.
Jacques was criticised after telling a parliamentary inquiry into the destruction of the 46,000-year-old rock shelters that Rio Tinto could have chosen a design for its Brockman 4 iron ore mine that would have left the sites undamaged, but chose to destroy them to access an additional US$135m in high grade iron ore.
In a statement late on Thursday, BHP said it had agreed with the Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (BNTAC) to establish an advisory council made up of Banjima elders and senior BHP representatives “to provide input into mine planning at South Flank”.
It follows the filing of a shareholder resolution, to be debated at BHP’s Australian and global annual general meetings in October, calling for an immediate stop to all mining that could “disturb, destroy, or desecrate” Aboriginal heritage.
A similar resolution was filed against Fortescue Metals Group, the third of the big three iron ore miners in the Pilbara region, on Thursday.
BHP said the heritage advisory council would “build on the long-standing partnership between Banjima and BHP”, which has involved 20 years of negotiation and includes the signing in 2015 of a 100-year deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
That deal prevented BNTAC from opposing an application under s.18 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act of WA to destroy cultural heritage sites, even though they told the WA government, through an archeological adviser, that they would “suffer spiritual and physical harm if they are destroyed”.
BHP manages more than 8,000 Aboriginal heritage sites on its Western Australian mining leases, but would not say how many it currently has permission to destroy.
BNTAC chair and senior elder Maitland Parker said the heritage advisory council was “the next step in how Banjima and BHP seek to consider and communicate with respect to cultural heritage”.
Parker said it would “open an important line of communication between Banjima elders and BHP,” and would help balance economic and social outcomes with the preservation of heritage.
“The advisory council will comprise Banjima traditional owners that have an unbroken connection to this part of Banjima country,” he said. “We look forward to working in good faith with BHP with regard to heritage matters and mine expansion plans at South Flank.”
The president of BHP’s Australian minerals division, Edgar Basto, said the advisory council “will ensure on-going high level dialogue between us on important cultural heritage and other matters. It builds on an already very strong partnership between Banjima and BHP”.
