The chairman of mining giant Rio Tinto plans to quit, accepting personal failings relating to the widely condemned destruction of an ancient sacred Indigenous site in Western Australia s Pilbara region in 2020.
Briton Simon Thompson said he planned to step down from Rio s board and not seek re-election in 2022 in a company statement because, I am ultimately accountable for the failings that led to this tragic event.
The blasting of the cave at Jukkan Gorge, as part of the expansion of the Brockman 4 iron ore mine, was understood to be legal but against the wishes of traditional owners, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) people.