In this landmark decision of the Federal Court handed down in May 2026, the Court awarded a compensation penalty of $150.3m against Fortescue Metals Group (FMG).
In its final orders made on 1 July 2026, the Court awarded cultural loss of $150m, economic loss of $136,757 and $217,152 in compound interest against FMG. FMG paid the amount in full within hours of the Court handing down these orders.
In August, the Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation (YNAC) and the Government of the State of Western Australian lodged opposite appeals from the decision.
In September, FMG became the third group to appeal the decision, saying that it was forced to respond to the two appeals to protect its own legal position.
The Yindjibarndi decision Is the largest native title compensation award in Australian history. By way of summary of the facts and the decision, the Yindjibarndi people lodged a native title claim over land in the Pilbara in 2003. In 2012-2013, FMG commenced development of the Solomon Hub, having obtained government approvals but without having entered into and native title agreement with the Yindjibarndi. In 2017, the Yindjibarndi were recognised as the exclusive Native Title holders over the relevant land and pursued compensation against FMG, initially seeking approximately $1.8 billion for cultural and economic loss.
The Court found that FMG was liable to pay compensation under the Native Title Act for mining activities, being acts affecting native title, conducted without an agreement with the recognised native title holders. Although the mining was authorised under statutory regimes, this did not extinguish the obligation to compensate for impacts on native title rights. The Court found that the State was not liable for damages. In assessing compensation and how to quantify each head of damage, cultural loss was treated as the primary and most significant harm with the court finding that the Yindjibarndi people have a “deep and visceral connection to their land”. Economic loss was conservatively based on freehold land value and not mining profits. The Court rejected the argument that native title compensation should be calculated as a royalty or profit share.
YNAC’s appeal challenges both the economic and cultural loss components of the decision. It argues that economic loss was materially undervalued. It also argues that the wrong valuation methodology was adopted and the Court erred in rejecting the compensation approach based on mining royalties when assessing economic loss. It challenges the Court’s use of a freehold valuation derived from the land’s pastoral use rather than its mining use in assessing economic loss, the argument being that the Court undervalued the native title rights by assessing them against pastoral land values despite the land being used for a valuable iron ore project. The YNAC also argues that cultural loss was incompletely assessed as it excluded loss associated with social disruption and divisions within the community that it says arose from the mining project and the associated disputes.
The State’s notice of appeal challenges the compensation judgement on 4 main grounds. The State argues that there is no entitlement to compensation under the Native Title Act and compensation should be assessed under section 123 of the Mining Act. It says the Court erred in finding that the YNAC were not ‘owners’ or ‘occupiers’ for the purpose of that provision. The State also argues that the Court erred in treating the YNAC as holding exclusive possession native title rights from 2003 and exclusive rights should only have been recognised from the 2017 native title determination. The compensation assessment was inflated as a result. The State says that compound interest should not have been awarded and finally that the $150 million cultural loss award was excessive.
FMG says that its cross appeal restates positions it put forward at trial and seeks clarity on aspects of the judgment that it believes are inconsistent with existing legal principles and precedent.
A court date for the appeal has not yet been set.