Traditional Owners protest outside Kimberley Mineral Sands offices

Protesters gathered outside Kimberley Minerals Sands offices in Broome on Wednesday to voice concerns over the company’s Thunderbird mine which is set to reach completion by the end of the year. Nyikina Traditional Owners were joined by local group No More Trucks to protest KMS’ Aboriginal recruitment numbers and the use of 60m trucks along the route to Broome port to export Thunderbird products. Nyikina man and former chief executive of the Kimberley Land Council Wayne Bergmann said the company hadn’t been transparent with the number of Aboriginal workers it had hired. “I’ve been involved with this process for over five years with Kimberley Mineral Sands and they can’t be trusted. They’ve misled us to believe they have a higher percentage of Traditional Owner participation,” he said. “On their website, they say there’s 350 people employed during construction but when they present it to Traditional Owners they’ve said they only have 100 people.” Mr Bergman also lamented the land cleared to construct the mine claiming it had been done without proper approvals. “They’ve cleared land without environmental approval or heritage permits and they’ve done illegal clearing by getting our Native Title Groups to indemnify them by doing Indigenous Land Use agreements,” he said. “If they are prepared to do this, then the Broome community cannot trust the impact of what they’ve disclosed publicly. They’re holding information back.” Nyikina Mangala Traditional Owner Rosita Shaw said tenders from Aboriginal contractors had been rejected by KMS without giving a reason as to why. “They are not really engaging with us properly regarding Traditional Owners working there and also Traditional Owner contracts,” she said. “When we put in for it they said we were unsuccessful without telling us why we were unsuccessful.” “Give us a chance and opportunity to benefit from our own country so that we can have something in place for the future generations.” Hitting back at the claims, Kimberley Mineral Sands chief executive Stuart Pether said the company’s tendering and evaluation process was thorough and rigorous to meet their business needs. “We use a process of assessing price, risk and social benefits to deliver the best overall value outcome. However, the price needs to be commercially competitive,” he said. “Verbal and written tender de-briefs providing feedback on unsuccessful submissions have been carried out on different occasions with Ms Shaw and Mr Bergman or their respective tendering entities.” Mr Pether said KMS also worked with the Joombarn-Buru Aboriginal Corporation on initiatives to build capacity among Traditional Owners to participate in the opportunities delivered by the mine. “This includes upcoming business workshops and a dedicated local business and content staff member,” he said. “As of 30 August, KMS directly employs 101 people, of which 25 per cent identify as Aboriginal, and 11 people are Joombarn-Buru Traditional Owners,” he said. “In addition, 40 Aboriginal people work for our contractors. This is already exceeding the targets set out in the Coexistence Agreement of 20 per cent by year four of operations.” “The Thunderbird Coexistence Agreement sets out specific targets for Aboriginal business spend and employment. “This includes $5 million per year spent with Aboriginal-owned businesses during the construction period, which has been met.” KMS’ Thunderbird mine is set to deliver first product in early 2024.