Native title groups hosting Australia’s iron ore industry are holding more than $1 billion of net assets in trusts, but after 30 years of the native title regime, there is little to show for the vast majority of Indigenous Australians.

An investigation by The Australian Financial Review finds 45 per cent of Australia’s landmass is now covered by a native title determination and the regime has generated billions of dollars of income for a few groups, particularly those in the nation’s north-west.