Iron ore miner Fortescue has knocked back a bid from traditional owners to purchase Emu Creek Station for above market price.
Iron ore miner Fortescue has knocked back an offer from traditional owners to purchase Emu Creek Station for above market price.
Business News understands the Buurabalayji Thalanyji Aboriginal Corporation put in a bid for the 125,000-hectare station lease in the west Pilbara.
Market price for the station is understood to be about $1.9m.
That valuation reflects the fact the station has been destocked since 2022 and has a small carrying capacity of about 1,500 head.
It was run as a mixed cattle and tourism operation by its previous leaseholders.
Emu Creek Station was purchased by Fortescue in 2022 for an undisclosed sum.
Fortescue put Emu Creek up for sale alongside Yalbalgo and Ella Valla in May after scrapping plans for a 5GW renewable energy hub on the stations to power the company’s mines.
The three stations in Pilbara and Gascoyne cover about 300,000 hectares combined.
Ella Valla and Yalbalgo are being sold together, while Emu Creek was marketed as a standalone property.
Fortescue declined to comment. BTAC was contacted for comment.
Troubled waters
The Forrest family and the Thalanyji people have a complicated history.
The traditional owner group has been locked in a long-running dispute with family company Forrest & Forrest over a plan to build leaky weirs on Minderoo Station lodged in 2017.
Forrest & Forrest want to build 10 leaky weirs to underpin a horticulture operation at the station by enabling more water to soak into the surrounding environment.
The company built one leaky weir with consent from traditional owners in 2011.
BTAC argues any such construction would harm or kill the spiritual water serpent which inhabits the Ashburton River.
Forrest & Forrest’s plan has been rejected by the Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee, the Aboriginal affairs minister, and the state administrative tribunal.
But a Supreme Court judge last year ruled the SAT had erred in its decision, allowing Forrest & Forrest to prosecute the case again.
The Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people have also opposed the weirs, which are downstream from their country.
Forrest & Forrest has argued the weirs would improve environmental outcomes and provide employment.
Business News asked Fortescue if the weirs had been discussed in relation to the sale, and to confirm whether the station had been taken off the market.
Fortescue declined to comment.
