Aboriginal people open their first mine in Australia

Sunday was a big day for Aboriginal people in Northern Australia with the opening of a new bauxite mine.

At a ceremony marking the official opening of the mine, leader Gumatj Galarrwyy Yunupingu dumped a handful of bauxite into the hands of two Rio Tinto workers. The event was historic because it is the first mine in Australia to be owned and operated by Aboriginal people. The bauxite will be sold by Rio Tinto for export to domestic and international customers.

“As the first domestic bauxite mine wholly owned by the entire supply chain, this is a global phenomenon,” said CEO Rio Tinto Gove. The mine, located in Gulkul in northeast Arnhem Land, is expected to provide about 65 full-time indigenous jobs, with a goal of reaching 100 states by 2018.

Meanwhile, in Queensland, the local indigenous rights agreement in the Communities Agreement will remain in effect, protecting and promoting cultural heritage.

“We will not try to make any changes to this agreement, so all items that ceased operations when the previous owners stopped mining at Century will be resumed,” said Shane Goodwin, head of corporate affairs at New Century Resources. The company plans to start production in the third quarter of 2018. The facility is designed to process 507,000 tons per year of zinc concentrate or 264,000 tons of zinc metal.

The mine was the third largest zinc mine in the world until it closed in 2016. New Century showed interest in it in 2017 and carried out a feasibility study for the commissioning of an existing processing plant. On November 28, the results of the feasibility study were published, which show proved ore reserves of 77.3 million tonnes with 3.1% zinc equivalent.