Wiradjuri native title deal with gold miner puts skills before royalties

An Indigenous corporation in the New South Wales Riverina says it has a template for dealing with mining companies that focuses on jobs and training opportunities rather than royalties.

The Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation (WCC) has a native title agreement with Evolution Mining, which owns and operates the Cowal gold mine near West Wyalong.

Evolution provides annual payments that are spent on employment, training and business opportunities.

Chairman Ally Coe said the corporation’s funding was overseen by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).

“It’s not just a lump sum of cash — we have to invoice, and the paper trail and all of the accounting has to go through ASIC,” he said.

Mr Coe said mining royalties could be divisive because stakeholder groups tended to focus on the money they believed they were entitled to rather than developing opportunities.

“There’s been a lot of division created, I suppose, with the notion that royalties conjure up the dollar figure and money that’s available to different groups that belong to that area,” he said.

“So when that happens, the challenge then for any organisation is a hell of a lot more difficult [in terms of being able] to concentrate on the positive outcomes that you’re always looking for.”

Training on country

Last month Evolution granted the corporation a 770-hectare farm near its mine, which under the terms of a 2003 Native Title Agreement was to be returned to the traditional owners at the end of the mine’s life in 2040.

Evolution Mining general manager John Penhall said the company worked closely with the WCC to ensure it was helping the organisation achieve its goals.

“There was certainly a desire to understand how could we create some additional income streams for the WCC and at the same time support their growth so that they have a legacy that lasts well beyond the length of the life of the mine,” Mr Penhall said.

The company was transferring a second 485ha farm to the WCC and was providing $800,000 in seed capital to help it establish the Galari Agricultural Company.

Mr Coe said the farms would be run as money-making enterprises, but would also provide a place to train young Indigenous men and women.

“But at the same time, as an organisation we know and understand – like all of the farmers in this region – that it can be a risky business and we’re at the mercy of the elements, of course,” he said.

Four trainees are undertaking a two-year Certificate of Agriculture course, which will be accredited by Australian Agricultural Training.

Bret Brown, 22, said he was grateful for the opportunity.

“I’m hoping one day it’ll take me down the road to … managing and running my own farm,” he said.

‘From the ground up’

The farm manager Matt Kendall said the trainees spent the first month getting the farm operational.

“The trainees are going to get the whole from-the-bottom-up sort of scenario, because this is right from the bottom line — cleaning up everything, fixing our fences, gateways, renewing gateways, watering systems and all that sort of stuff,” he said.

“It’s all from the ground up — we’re building it from scratch, more or less.”

He said a $160,000 tractor and 437 pregnant merino cross ewes were purchased and there were plans to add cattle and crop to the second 475ha property.

Mr Coe said the farm could also help to deal with juvenile crime in Condobolin by offering a place to take troubled youth back to country.

“Obviously, it’ll be a program where they decide whether or not they get involved,” he said.