Sustainable development

Community engagement in the Musgraves region, Australia

This particular territory is home to more than 2,000 people from Aboriginal communities in the desert, all of whom have strong religious and cultural ties to land that has important food and water sources, religious sites and ‘dreaming trails’.

Respecting their heritage and beliefs has had a major influence on how we have been able to carry out our work, but we have always managed to keep their interests at the heart of our exploration.

Through patience, understanding and respect, our exploration team in Australia has developed strong relationships with these communities, smoothing the exploration process and gaining access to previously restricted areas of the 5,800 km² region.

For example, once given the opportunity, the tribal elders (pictured above with members of our exploration team) were able to see for themselves that the exploration task could be better carried out from the air.

A helicopter survey offered the leaders their first aerial view of the land and they were able to identify dreaming and hunting trails and other ceremonial sites which needed to be protected in a matter of hours instead of days.

Together with regular visits, both to these communities and to exploration sites, it is safe to say our explorers have taken community engagement to new heights.