Legal challenge makes Xstrata nervous
Posted by mcarthurriver on January 24, 2007
It seems the legal action is making MRM/Xstrata a bit anxious (see abc story below).
Legal action fails to stop MacArthur River Mine expansion
Wednesday, 24 January 2007. 11:30 (AWDT)
The MacArthur River Mine expansion in the Northern Territory is going ahead, despite legal action from Indigenous traditional owners.
The lead and zinc mine near Boroloola has begun work diverting the MacArthur River for 5.5 kilometres to allow an open pit.
While the local Kurdanji people say the diversion will interfere with major rainbow serpent sites the mine’s general manger Brian Hearn says they will not be negotiating an agreement with the traditional owners.
“The Aboriginal area protection authority certificates that we’ve got actually cover that area and we’ve designed the whole operation to go around anything that’s of any significance to local people,” he said.
“The original lease where you would normally negotiate with traditional people was negotiated in 1992.”
This story is from abc news
If the legal action can not stop the expansion then why are they commenting. They also need to look at the conditions under the EPBC act, they are not allowed to divert the river at least until after the wet 2007 and maybe not until 2008
The legal action has not yet been heard, its scheduled for late March 2007.
Unfortunately, Brian Hearn’s ‘we will not negotiate with traditional owners’ is standard fare, and we have come to expect it from MRM/Xstrata.
Posted in Legal challenge, McArthur River, NT Government, Traditional Owners, Xstrata | No Comments »
