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2 August, 2013 - Historic conviction of miner for desecrating sacred site

The historic prosecution of a Singapore-based mining company for the desecration of an Aboriginal sacred site in the Northern Territory has prompted the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA) to call for miners to respect the law and honour their agreements, in the middle of a national mining boom.

OM Manganese Ltd was today fined $150,000 in the Darwin Magistrates’ Court for one count of desecration to, and one count of damaging, the ‘Two Women Sitting Down’ sacred site at their Bootu Creek manganese mine on Banka Banka station, 170km north of Tennant Creek.

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Media Releases

Media Coverage

Media Article Title Date Published
"The Australian" Sacred site 'desecration' case to set a precedent 05 March 2013
"The Age" Site desecrated for profit, NT court hears 08 March 2013
"The Australian" Mining firm accused of blowing up Aboriginal sacred site 09 April 2013
"The Australian" Miner rejects claims of NT site desecration 10 April 2013

 

Statements

  • Statement of Agree Facts

Court Photographs

 No 46
Count Number Author of Photograph Photograph Number Description of Photograph Date Taken Aspect
 2 AAPA  No 46 Sacred Site 5760-21 2 women sitting down taken during research for Authority Certificate 2004/182 25/6/2004 Looking East
 
 P1010547
Count Number Author of Photograph Photograph Number Description of Photograph Date Taken Aspect
 2 Peter Madden AAPA P1010547 Looking east with site fence and site before major collapse. 19/4/2011 Looking East
 
 IMG 1004
Count Number Author of Photograph Photograph Number Description of Photograph Date Taken Aspect
 2 OM (Maganese) IMG 1004 Pink paint marking the cracking heading north to sacred site 5760-21 boundary fence. 20/7/2011 Looking North
 
 DSC 08798
Count Number Author of Photograph Photograph Number Description of Photograph Date Taken Aspect
 2 Gareth Lewis AAPA DSC 08798 View of Collapsed Sacred site 5760-21 from the south depicting bull nose collapse and site boundary fence fallen down and pink paint on the ground along edge of collapse and geotechnical monitoring prism installed. Large Rocky feature collapsed into crack. 9/9/2011 Looking North
 
 DSC 0023
Count Number Author of Photograph Photograph Number Description of Photograph Date Taken Aspect
 2 Mike Fawcett Northern Territory Department of Resources DSC 0023 View of Collapsed Sacred site 5760-21 from the south depicting bull nose collapse and site boundary fence fallen down and pink paint on the ground along edge of collapse. Large Rocky feature collapsed into crack. 30/8/2011 Looking North
 
 50040013
Count Number Author of Photograph Photograph Number Description of Photograph Date Taken Aspect
 2 Gary Martin Northern Territory Department of Resources 50040013 Mining taking place and large blast being prepared along the western pit wall ending in front of the Sacred Site 5760-21. Bull nose is defined by the hill containing the sacred site and is jutting into the Masai pit. 8/6/2011 Looking West
 
 50040013
Count Number Author of Photograph Photograph Number Description of Photograph Date Taken Aspect
 2 Gary Martin Northern Territory Department of Resources 50040013 cropped Mining taking place and large blast being prepared along the western pit wall ending in front of the Sacred Site 5760-21. Bull nose is defined by the hill containing the sacred site and is jutting into the Masai pit. 8/6/2011 Looking West
 
 DSC 0059
Count Number Author of Photograph Photograph Number Description of Photograph Date Taken Aspect
 2 Mike Fawcett Northern Territory Department of Resources DSC 0059 View from the Eastern rim of the Masai pit looking straight across to the collapsed bull nose which includes Sacred site 5760-21. 30/8/2011 Looking West
 
 DSC 08743
Count Number Author of Photograph Photograph Number Description of Photograph Date Taken Aspect
 2 Gareth Lewis AAPA DSC 08743 Close up view from Eastern rim of the Masai pit looking straight across to the collapsed Sacred site portion of the bull nose. Southern boundary fence of the site and pink paint following the edge of the collapse into the Sacred site 5760-21 is visible. Collapse of the rock feature of the sacred site is evident along with scarring of the remaining rocks within the sacred site following the collapse of the bull nose. 30/8/2011 Looking West
 
 DSC 08786
Count Number Author of Photograph Photograph Number Description of Photograph Date Taken Aspect
 2 Gareth Lewis AAPA DSC 08786 From southern rim of Masai Pit depicting mining taking place in front of collapse no buttressing, pit getting deeper. 9/9/2011 Looking North