Rio’s Aboriginal spat

RIO tinto will conduct a wide-ranging review into how it blew up two sacred aboriginal caves in Western australia to help expand an iron ore mine.

the miner has bowed to critics, including major investors, to publish the report, which it initially planned only to release to the government. rio has faced a growing backlash since it destroyed the sites in the Juukan Gorge in May.

archaeologists said the caves were of immense value, with one showing evidence it had been occupied for 46,000 years by the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) people.

a former anthropological adviser to rio tinto, Glyn Cochrane, said: ‘it was an accident waiting to happen.’