Rio Tinto Admits That Destruction Of 46,000-year Old Aboriginal Rock Caves Helped It Access High Grade Iron Ore Worth $135 million 

In a submission to a Australian Senate inquiry on destruction of rock caves considered sacred by aboriginals, Jean-Sébastien Jacques, the chief executive of global mining giant Rio Tinto, has admitted that he was unware of historic and cultural significance of 46,000-year-old heritage site in Juukan Gorg, The Guardian reported.

Jean-Sébastien Jacques admitted that his company choose an option that damaged the rock shelters in order to access high-grade ore deposits worth $135 million.

On May 23, the world’s biggest iron ore miner legally damaged the two historically significant sacred caves, against the wishes of the Aboriginal Traditional Owners, which sat atop a high grade ore body it planned to mine.

The rock shelters, in the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, were damaged in a mining blast undertaken as part of the expansion of Rio Tinto’s Brockman 4 iron ore mine, despite the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people (PKKP),repeatedly saying they wanted to preserve the site.

“Rio Tinto has unreservedly apologised to the PKKP and we reaffirm that apology now,” the submission by the CEO stated. “For the benefit of current and future generations of Australians, we are determined to learn the lessons to ensure that the destruction of heritage sites of exceptional archaeological and cultural significance, such as the Juukan rock shelters, never occurs again.”

Rio is said to have obtained ministerial consent to destroy or damage the sites from the Western Australian government under that state’s Aboriginal Heritage Act in 2013.

Rio is conducting its own independent board review into the incident, due to be completed in October, and has pledged to make the findings public. The company also said that PKKP had signed a financial agreement with Rio Tinto in 2011, and again in 2013, not to oppose any applications to destroy or damage heritage under section 18 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act.