Anglo Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has been accused of covering up the loss of hundreds of indigenous artefacts dating back to the last ice age by allowing them to be disposed of in a landfill site near Darwin, an aboriginal group alleged on Friday.
Pilbara, Australia. Credit: Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto has been accused of discarding artefacts taken from the Pilbara region (pictured) and covering up their destruction. Credit: Rio Tinto
The Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation (WGAC), who hails from the iron-rich Pilbara region - their territory covering an area equivalent to 40% of Tinto's iron ore operations - has said they have been "left with nothing" after the company reportedly greenlit the destruction of these items in the 1990s, and failed to alert them.
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The corporation claims the cover-up was instigated following a series of mistakes that prevented these artefacts being placed in safekeeping.
Documents presented to a government inquiry into the Juukan Gorge disaster detail "accidental, then deliberate" discarding of the artefacts and then failing to notify the traditional owners of what had transpired.
The Marandoo iron ore mine is located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
In a statement, the WGAC said the Australian mining sector "hadn't acted responsibly" adding that the industry needs far greater oversight regarding heritage protection - something Tinto itself has tried organising in the past.
“Hundreds of Eastern Guruma cultural artefacts ended up in the bin,” the WGAC added.
The artefacts in question were dated back to around 18,000 years ago, before the end of the last glacial period. The documents presented at the hearing claim the artefacts were dumped in Darwin in 1995.
Rio Tinto head of iron ore, Simon Trott, said in a statement: "We’re not proud of many parts of our history at Marandoo and we reiterate our apology to the Traditional Owners of the land, the Eastern Guruma People, for our past actions.
"We know we have a lot of work ahead to right some of these historical wrongs, which fell well short of the standards we expect today."
"This will take time, consistent effort and open dialogue with the WGAC to rebuild trust and reset our relationship for the future. Our leadership team are engaging regularly on this important work and are committed to meeting with the WGAC again when they are ready," he added.
The mining giant's relationship with traditional owners has continued to sour in recent months over claims it is not doing enough to prevent similar Juukan Gorge-style incidents from happening in the future.
The aboriginal population whose territory the Juukan Gorge complex sits on have already asked for a "seat at the table" regarding deliberations and overseeing future mining operations with Tinto.
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The incident was so severe, Rio Tinto's CEO and two other key executives were let go and their chairman stood down over concerns he was responsible for the disaster.
According to a separate statement, the WCAG has been looking into what happened at Marandoo for a couple of months. They claim to have been speaking to people directly involved in the ordeal.
Tinto's iron ore mine at Marandoo, located within Karijini national park, has been in operation since 1992.
The Eastern Guruma people were concerned a large number of heritage sites may be destroyed by the project, originally identified in a 1975 survey. A later 1992 visit concluded that at least 105 heritage sites - as well as 300 other "sites of significance" - were under threat from the mine.
However, samples from these sites were sent to museums. The documents provided to the hearing detailed that some of these were accidentally discarded in Darwin, which Tinto are alleged to have covered up.
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