Kokatha people to finalise land use agreement with BHP Billiton, SA Government
Monetary compensation and land ownership will be negotiated for the Kokatha people in South Australia's north-west as part of a land use agreement that has been 18 years in the making.
A special hearing of the Federal Court is being heard at Andamooka Station and will include the signing of an Indigenous Land Use Agreement between the Kokatha, the State Government and BHP Billiton.
Acting Attorney-General Ian Hunter said the agreement meant the Kokatha could look forward to "unique negotiations between other economic players" and "get jobs for their people".
He also said it would give certainty to extended operations at the Olympic Dam mining centre, about 550 kilometres north-west of Adelaide, and to opal miners.
"It means there'll be much simpler negotiations possible under the land use agreement, which we strike today," Mr Hunter said.
"We hope that given the title claim settlement, the Kokatha will be able to use that to become key players in the economy of the local region."
The Kokatha people first lodged a native title claim in 1996, which was updated and re-lodged in 2012.
It covers an area of almost 34,000 square kilometres between Lake Gairdner and Lake Torrens.
The group's solicitor, Osker Linde, said the site at Andamooka Station was of "immense significance" to the Kokatha people and described it as a "cultural hotspot".
"There's Kokatha people who are buried on the station," he said.
"There's Kokatha people who have been born there, and their dreaming stories traverse that country a lot."
Mr Linde said the inclusion of a mine on the site meant the claim required a drawn out negotiation process with BHP, which inherited the mining project from Western Mining.
