⏩ Issue 29: Teck

Last week we looked at Origin Energy and found about a quarter of the community benefits for its Yanco Delta wind farm are paid before the decision to build. This week is about a payment made for a different reason, ownership of the minerals.

In Australia, the states and territories own the minerals in the ground, and mining companies pay them royalties. Mining companies pay native title holders compensation, usually through a mining agreement and sometimes by court order. In May, the Federal Court awarded the Yindjibarndi people $150 million for cultural loss from Fortescue's Solomon Hub, the largest native title compensation award to date. The Yindjibarndi, the WA Government and Fortescue have all appealed. Part of the Yindjibarndi appeal is about how the court valued their rights - as land, rather than by the royalties typical of Pilbara agreements.

There are places where Indigenous owners hold the minerals themselves. One is the Red Dog zinc mine in north-west Alaska, operated by Teck. Teck published its 2025 Sustainability Report on 12 March 2026.

So this week's question is, what happens to mining royalties and compensation payments when Indigenous people, not the government, own the mineral rights?

- Bronwyn

Source: Teck 2025 Sustainability Report (83pp) · Published 12 March 2026 · Reporting period 1 January to 31 December 2025 · Prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards, including the GRI 14 Mining Sector Standard, and aligned with SASB · ICMM member · Limited assurance by PwC

Teck is a Canadian copper and zinc miner with operations in Canada, Chile and the United States. It is merging with Anglo American, which we covered in Issue 14.

Red Dog sits above the Arctic Circle on land owned by NANA Regional Corporation, an Alaska Native corporation owned by more than 15,000 Iñupiat shareholders. The current mine life runs to 2031, and Teck is negotiating agreements to extend it.

Teck explains who owns the mine in a footnote to its employment figures.

Surface rights speak to the land. Subsurface rights are the minerals under it. NANA holds both, so Teck mines NANA's zinc under a lease from NANA.

Teck's annual filing with the US securities regulator sets out the terms. Teck pays NANA a share of the net proceeds of production from the mine. The share started at 25 per cent in 2007 and rises 5 per cent every five years. It reached 40 per cent in October 2022, moves to 45 per cent in October 2027, and is capped at 50 per cent.

In 2025 that payment was about $540 million in Australian dollars. NANA shares part of the income with the other Alaska Native regional corporations, as the 1971 Act requires.

Further down the same page, the report sets out what Teck counts as the benefits of the relationship with NANA.

The report describes the relationship with NANA through jobs and contracts. On the same page, NANA shareholders made up more than half of Red Dog's workforce in 2025 and 75 per cent of new hires. Indigenous suppliers took 38 per cent of the mine's spending, about $170 million in Australian dollars.

These are strong figures, and they are reported the way the industry usually reports benefits to Indigenous people.

The royalty is not in the report. At about $540 million, it is more than three times the Indigenous procurement figure, and it is the payment NANA receives as the owner of the minerals.

So, what happens to mining royalties and compensation payments when Indigenous people, not the government, own the mineral rights?

The payment is for the minerals rather than for an impact on rights over the land, and it is set as a share of what the mine earns each year. At Red Dog, that came to about $540 million in 2025.

In Australia, a mining company pays two different things. A royalty goes to the state or territory government, as owner of the minerals. Compensation goes to native title holders, under a mining agreement or a court order, for the impact on their rights over the land. Where a court sets the amount, it values native title as land. At Red Dog, NANA receives the royalty as the owner. In the Pilbara, the Yindjibarndi people are in court arguing their compensation should be measured more like a royalty.

Teck still built the mine, runs it and pays tax. Ownership changed who receives the payment for the zinc and on what terms. NANA negotiated as the owner of the ore body, not as a party seeking compensation for damage to its rights.

Red Dog is not a one-off. In Nunavut, in Canada's north, Inuit own the minerals under parts of Agnico Eagle's gold mines and receive a royalty of 12 per cent of net profits. Both arrangements came out of land claim settlements, where mineral rights were part of what Indigenous people received.

Which leaves a question for you. Do you think a shift is coming in how payments to native title holders are decided in Australia?

Two practical takeaways for anyone who prepares or reviews reporting on payments to Traditional Owners.

Subsurface rights.

Ownership of what lies under the land, including minerals. At Red Dog, NANA holds both the surface and subsurface rights.

Net proceeds of production.

Broadly, what a mine earns after its costs. Teck pays NANA 40 per cent of the net proceeds from Red Dog, rising to 45 per cent in October 2027.

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

A 1971 US law that settled Alaska Native land claims with land and money and set up regional corporations, including NANA, to hold them. It requires regional corporations to share part of their mineral revenue with each other.

Native title compensation.

Money paid to native title holders for the loss or impairment of native title rights, under a mining agreement or a court order. The Federal Court awarded the Yindjibarndi people $150 million for cultural loss in May 2026. The award is under appeal.

This week at CFS - Native title agreements

Whether a payment is a royalty, compensation or a community benefit changes how it is negotiated, reported and explained to shareholders and Traditional Owners. Accord is Cantilever's structured pathway to a native title mining agreement in WA, so each payment is clear about what it is for. If that is a conversation worth having, get in touch by emailing Bronwyn directly at [email protected].