Aboriginal corporation Djaara enters into ‘historic’ gold mining agreement with Canada’s Agnico Eagle – by Tyrone Dalton (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – May 13, 2024)

https://www.abc.net.au/

Canadian company Agnico Eagle Mines has signed an agreement with traditional owner group Djaara to compensate First Nations people for gold mined at the Central Victorian-based Fosterville Gold Mine. The agreement — “bakaru wayaparrangu”, meaning “in the middle we all meet” — has been seven years in the making and is being hailed by the two organisations as a first for an active mining company in Victoria.

Mining agreement ‘compromise’

Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation chair Rebecca Phillips represents her ancestors, the Malcolm family line, and said the mining agreement was significant for all Indigenous peoples.

“That’s what this agreement was about — a way of including Djaara people in the resource use of our country and a way for our people and our country to benefit from that,” she said. “This is a compromise agreement.

Agnico Eagle president and chief executive officer Ammar Al-Joundi said its first agreement with a traditional owner group in Australia follows similar arrangements with indigenous groups at its home base in Ontario, Canada. The agreement will ensure Agnico Eagle employs Indigenous people at its Fosterville Gold Mine.

For the rest of this article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-14/fosterville-gold-mine-revenue-to-flow-to-traditional-owners/103842292