OM Manganese has been handed a hefty fine for desecrating a sacred Aboriginal site in the Northern Territory.

The junior player in the mining game will fork out a $150,000 penalty after courts found the company broke off a “horizontal arm” of rock, lessening its sacredness and spiritual value.

Peter Toth, CEO of parent-group OM Holdings issued the following apology: “The Company never intended to harm, damage or disrespect the sacred site. We sincerely regret the damage and the hurt caused and I unreservedly apologise to the site’s custodians and traditional owners. While OM encountered unexpected ground conditions in the Masai Pit, it is clear that our pit design and mining activities contributed to the damage at the site. As soon as that damage was identified we executed a comprehensive remediation plan, including ongoing monitoring, which helped to secure the site and prevent further damage.”

One representative of the local aboriginal groups said it had sent a shock around the community, especially through elders - who placed the most importance on the rich religious and cultural legacy of Australia’s indigenous people.

There were allegations of cracks to the sacred site midway through 2011; reports say OM triggered blasts in the two weeks after, which triggered the full split of the rocky outcrop. This case is the first successful bid by a government body to prosecute a mining company for desecration under Australian law.
The company, which is owned by OM Holdings, has received fines of $120,000 for desecration and $30,000 for damage, but will not charged for any additional desecration.

Prosecutors alleged that OH had consulted with local leaders about a steeper angle of drilling which may have caused the damage, but was not likely to have been fully understood by indigenous representatives: “In my view, arranging a meeting with the three gentlemen to essentially obtain approval for the steeper batter angle approach was either a cynical or a naive exercise on the part of the defendant,” Magistrate Sue Oliver said in her findings, “the custodians had no individual authority to approve a mining plan that posed a risk to the integrity of the sacred site.”

Experts say the precedent is now set which demonstrates that damaging Aboriginal sacred sites will be punished by law.