More than half of Australia’s mines producing the minerals needed for clean energy technology lie within formally recognized Indigenous lands, new research shows — with that figure rising to nearly four-fifths if land subject to claims of native title that haven’t yet been determined are included. Many First Nations peoples say there hasn’t been fair compensation or benefit sharing from this bonanza so far, and that new projects, many incentivized by the government, must consider their rights and interests. The study, published in Energy Research & Social Science, focused on 14 commodities, including 12 critical minerals such as cobalt and lithium. To locate Australia’s mines, the authors analyzed data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and from Geoscience Australia, a government agency. This yielded a total of 2,950 sites, of which 379 were in operation at the time of the analysis. Of these operational sites, 219, or 57.8%, were located on land where Indigenous Australians hold either exclusive or non-exclusive rights to negotiate, the study found. When considering land where native title claims have been applied for but not granted, this increases to 79.2%. The study didn’t look at how many of the mining projects have already negotiated agreements with the Indigenous communities. Given the rapid growth of investment in the critical mineral sector and Australia’s poor track record when it comes to recognizing Indigenous peoples’ rights and interests, the paper’s authors say there need to be major policy changes. Otherwise there’s a risk that existing social, economic and governance problems…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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