Located on Waanyi traditional land in the Gulf of Carpentaria, NCR’s zinc refinery is set to open for business at the end of 2020. Joining a growing push to support Indigenous employment in mining operations, in August this year the company committed to source 200 of its 400 person workforce from local communities.

A 50:50 joint venture between Waanyi Enterprises and Downer EDI Mining, the Waanyi Downer Joint Venture (WDJV) will allow profits to be split between Downer and the Waanyi traditional owners, and includes a cultural heritage agreement as part of NCR’s compensation arrangement to progress operations.

In a statement, the NCR said the agreement provides a ‘viable mechanism’ to not only acknowledge the value of Indigenous cultural heritage but also to ‘empower’ those traditional owner communities who have mining operations within their lands.

At the signing ceremony, Waanyi PBC Chairman Alec Doomadgee said; “After almost 20 years of mining activity on Waanyi land at the Century Mine, this is the first agreement to genuinely recognise the value and significance of the Waanyi People’s Cultural Heritage and our birthright.”