Half a decade after destroying Aboriginal heritage artefacts without informing traditional landowners, Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) has shaken hands with Yugunga-Nya Elders in Western Australia as they work to rebuild trust.
Sandfire and Yuguna-Nya released a joint statement on 22 December 2023 to announce a framework agreement designed to ‘map issues, steps and relationships’ to ensure Sandire protects cultural heritage at its DeGrussa operation, which was placed on care and maintenance earlier this year.
The agreement comes after Sandfire last month confirmed that in 2017 and 2018, it disturbed artefact scatter at DeGrussa following a ‘series of process failures’ during the construction of the Monty satellite mine.
While Sandfire has now engaged with Yugungan-Nya Elders to apologise for the disturbance, the joint statement says the framework agreement reinstates a request from the Yugunga-Nya from back in 2016 to be involved in the management and protection of cultural heritage sites and material.
Sandfire has launched an external legal investigation to ‘better understand the process failures’ that led to the destruction of the cultural artefacts, and the company says it will share the findings with the Yugungan-Nya before making them public.
However, Yugunga-Nya Elder Andrew Gentle Senior makes it clear that while this may be a step in the right direction for Sandfire, the company has more work to do to mend its relationship with the traditional landowners.
“We are not getting married, engaged, or even dating Sandfire. We still distrust Sandfire because they destroyed our heritage and didn’t bother to tell us.
However, we want to try to rebuild trust. To do this, Sandfire’s senior management and the board must actively work with us, not manage us.
Sandfire need to show they are sincere because since 2016, they have shown nothing but disrespect for Yugunga-Nya people and Aboriginal culture. I hope the recent steps the current leadership have taken shows they are prepared to work hard to rebuild the relationship.”
“We are not getting married, engaged, or even dating Sandfire. We still distrust Sandfire because they destroyed our heritage and didn’t bother to tell us”
The Sandfire board has met with the Yugungan-Nya to listen to their concerns, understand their wishes, and respond to their needs, and the company says there is a ‘sense of optimism’ that this meeting and planned future meetings will help the company rebuild trust with the traditional landowners.
CEO Brendan Harris says the company is ‘deeply sorry’ for its actions in 2017 and 2018.
“We wish to extend our sincere gratitude to the Yugunga-Nya for the time they spent with us on country, the stories they shared, and the opportunity they have provided for us to work together to ensure we protect their cultural heritage as we undertake our closure and rehabilitation activities at DeGrussa.
While we cannot undo what has been done, we can make sure we do the right thing as we seek to rebuild trust and earn the respect of the Yugunga-Nya.”
Write to Joshua Smith at Mining.com.au
Images: Sandfire Resources
