The Northern Territory government halted plans to expand the McArthur River mine this week.
This decision comes after the scandal caused in 2020 by the blasting in the state of Western Australia of the Juukan Gorge cave, a 46,000-year-old site considered sacred by an Aboriginal community.
The Swiss group Glencore had requested authorization to dump flammable rocks at a height of 140 meters near the sacred site of Barramundi Dreaming over the next 15 years, in order to double the size of the lead mine and zinc, which it operates through a subsidiary.
The mining giant had claimed to have obtained the approval of six aboriginal guardians, which the owners of the site disputed.
Northern Territory Heritage Minister Chansey Paech this week rejected Glencore's request to overturn a decision by the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority.
The latter had estimated that the mining group should have consulted a greater number of guards, the site having 180.
The Authority's chief executive, Benedict Scambary, said the minister's decision 'sends a message to all promoters that lip service is not enough'.
"The protection of sacred sites is not a box to be ticked, nor an obstacle to be circumvented", he underlined.
The Glencore subsidiary said on Wednesday it wanted to continue negotiating a land use agreement with the traditional owners.
“We remain engaged in these negotiations and in broad consultation with traditional owners,” she said.
At the end of 2020, a parliamentary inquiry carried out after the destruction of an Aboriginal site by Rio Tinto had recommended that the mining giant compensate the Aboriginal community, rebuild the destroyed site and commit to respecting a permanent moratorium on mining in the region. region.
Glencore announced on Tuesday that it had returned to annual profits in 2021 at nearly $5 billion, against a loss of $1.9 billion a year earlier, and revealed on this occasion that it had set aside $1.5 billion. provisions for litigation.
This sum represents "its best estimate of the costs" to settle the investigations into suspicions of corruption and market manipulation around the world.
© 2022 AFP