Rio vows to preserve Aussie rock shelter

Melbourne, Aug. 31: Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) (RIO.L) has pledged to protect a 43,000-year old rock shelter on the fringe of its Silvergrass iron ore mine in Western Australia as it reviews heritage sites following outrage over the destruction of sacred ancient caves this year.

Rio Tinto, which has state government approval to damage the site, told the Wintawari Guruma people, its traditional owners, of its intention to preserve the rock shelter last week, although the Wintawari say they have yet to receive confirmation in writing.

“We will protect the site and also have mining buffer zones in place to further ensure the site is not at risk,” the world’s largest iron ore miner said in an e-mail.

The state governmentapproved detonation in May of caves in the same region that showed evidence of human history stretching back 46,000 years provoked worldwide condemnation and has triggered government and internal reviews.

Since then, Australia’s biggest iron ore miners - Rio Tinto, BHP (BHP.AX) (BHPB.L) and Fortescue Metals Group (FMG.AX) - have been reviewing heritage sites that could be affected by mine expansions, although they have resisted calls for a complete moratorium on sites for which they have been granted exemptions to disturb or damage.

The 43,000-year old rock shelter was highlighted in a March 2018 report by Scarp Archaeology as having “high archaeological significance”, which also noted the Silvergrass East area was “likely to feature more locations of extensive antiquity.”

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