Midwest Traditional Owners look forward to agreement outcomes

Posted: January 12th, 2011

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The Yugunga-Nya native title group have announced a claim wide land access agreement over their traditional country with mining company, Sandfire Resources.

Yugunga-Nya country covers approximately 30,335 square kilometres of land in the Midwest region of Western Australia, and includes the mining towns of Meekatharra and Cue.

The land access agreement covers Sandfire Resources DeGrussa copper-gold project, situated 150km north of Meekatharra. The agreement provides a range of financial and non-financial benefits to the Yugunga-Nya community. These include employment and contracting opportunities, as well as cultural awareness training for Sandfire employees. The agreement also includes a position for a Yugunga-Nya member to be employed as an Aboriginal Liaison Officer, further developing the good working relationship established between the community and Sandfire.

Ron Shay is a well respected Yugunga-Nya community member and is looking forward to the new opportunities the land access agreement will bring to his people.

“We already have four Yugunga-Nya people working with Sandfire, but through this agreement we hope to see many more benefits flow through to our community, including future employment and training,” he said.

Peter Jeffries, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation (YMAC), said, “I would like to congratulate the Yugunga-Nya people on the successful completion of their negotiations with Sandfire Resources and look forward to the opportunities that this agreement will bring to the community.

It’s a great start to the year for Yugunga-Nya and we look forward to many more positive stories for Traditional Owners of the Midwest region in 2011.”