International Courant
MELBOURNE – International miner Rio Tinto has discovered no harm to the construction of a rock shelter at an Aboriginal heritage website in Western Australia that was hit by explosions at its Nammuldi iron ore operations, it mentioned after a go to final weekend.
Rio Tinto staff and representatives of the Muntulgura Guruma folks visited the location final weekend, the place an explosion on August 6 led to the autumn of a Pilbara bush tree and a sq. meter of rock from the overhang of a rock shelter estimated to have been inhabited greater than 40,000-50,000 years.
There was far much less outrage over this incident in comparison with three years in the past, when Rio Tinto destroyed rock shelters on the Juukan Gorge in the identical area, which confirmed proof of human habitation relationship again 46,000 years.
“Assessments have proven no structural harm to the rock shelter itself, nor any harm to cultural supplies,” Cecile Thaxter, vp of Rio Tinto Iron Ore, mentioned in a webcast on Monday.
“An inside overview is underway and we’ll study from this incident, together with adjusting our practices as deemed applicable,” she mentioned.
Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Company has been contacted for remark.
Rio Tinto, which has not made a public assertion seven weeks after the August 6 incident, has mentioned it’s sorry and has taken steps to tell the suitable events and has reformed its practices since Juukan. This was the primary time in additional than 1,800 explosions that such a disruption had been detected, the report mentioned.
Rio’s destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters in 2020 sparked international outrage, the departure of high executives and a parliamentary inquiry that advisable a overview of Australia’s legal guidelines defending Aboriginal heritage.
Nonetheless, Western Australia is on the verge of reversing the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Safety Acts 2021, launched on July 1 following the destruction of the Juukan Gorge shelters. The regulation was repealed after solely 5 weeks in impact resulting from opposition from landowners.
The newest incident got here as help for an Oct. 14 referendum waned that will acknowledge Indigenous folks in Australia’s structure and set up an Indigenous physique to advise the federal government on points affecting Aboriginal folks. REUTERS
Rio Tinto says no harm was triggered to Aboriginal rock shelter after August 6 blast
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