Deal marks ‘ new era’ for mining
THE company planning to restart the mothballed Century zinc mine in northwest Queensland has struck a landmark contract with the Waanyi ReGen Joint Venture to provide training services for local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Listed mine developer New Century Resources has announced the contract as the first agreement of its kind for traditional owners of land where the Century tenements are located.
WRJV is a 50- 50 joint venture between Waanyi Enterprises Pty Ltd and Downer EDI Mining Pty Ltd which represents the Waanyi people and Downer Group’s mining division.
As well as providing community training and upskilling programs, the contract includes a strategy to prepare potential employees for mine roles.
The program also addresses obligations in the existing Gulf communities native title agreement struck when the mine was developed in the late 1990s.
In a statement to the stock exchange, Waanyi PBC chairman and WRJV director Alec Doomadgee said it was the first time in the region’s history that this kind of contract had been awarded to traditional owners on whose land mining was occurring.
He said it signalled the dawn of a new era in the Gulf.
“This is what Aboriginal self- determination and independence looks like as we now have genuine pathways for our people to become self- sufficient,” Mr Doomadgee said.
New Century Resources managing director Patrick Walta said the delivery of the training services would ensure the mine continued to deliver focused benefits for communities surrounding the operation.
“New Century hopes that its arrangements with the Waanyi ReGen JV will become a model for the empowerment of local Aboriginal people throughout the mining industry,” Mr Walta said.
New Century has already entered into an agreement with WRJV to assess the feasibility of open cut mining operations centred on the South Block resource on the edge of the mine’s existing pit.
New Century intends to begin mining and processing ore from the Century tailings and surrounding deposits from the third quarter of this year.