A frail Aboriginal elder has described feeling sick when he heard blasting at Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group’s Solomon iron ore mine, as the Federal Court begins hearing evidence from witnesses as part of a compensation claim that could top $500 million.

Speaking from a hospital bed, Yindjibarndi elder Margaret Read told the Federal Court on Tuesday that she had never given permission for Fortescue to build its Solomon iron ore mining hub in Western Australia’s resources-rich Pilbara.