Learning to dig the mining industry

The heavy-handed approach of the industry in the last century has left scars on the psyche of Indigenous Australia, and there is still a natural reluctance to sit down at the table in some quarters. That said, an increasing number of Indigenous communities are willing to have the discussion.

They are understandably interested in the jobs and economic development that mining can bring. However there is an absolute proviso: Culture is central. “I’m pro-mining” Jack Ah Kit told me “provided that it is done properly, with all the environmental safeguards, and that it’s done at Aboriginal people’s pace”.

In the first decade of the third millennium the mining industry has left governments floundering in their wake as they negotiate win-win agreements with Indigenous communities across the country. While they deserve a cautious pat on the back, these miners are not late-blooming social justice warriors.

They simply have business to do.