Bootu Creek Court Case

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

• 02/08/2013 - Historic conviction of miner for desecrating sacred site
• 08/11/2012 - Bootu Creek Outcome - Trial to commence on the 4 March 2013
• 08/11/2012 - Bootu Creek - Proceeding before the Darwin Magistrates' Court
• 10/09/2012 - AAPA Bootu Creek
• 03/08/2012 - Bootu Creek - Alleged desecration of a sacred site
• 24/11/2011 - Bootu Creek

Media Coverage

Statements

• Statement of Agree Facts

Court Photographs

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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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