Kellie Parker,Rio Tinto’s newly appointed head of Australia,told investors on Tuesday she cared deeply about the business,its people and communities and was honoured to have the opportunity to lead Rio “through this difficult time in our history”.
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“When we place an emphasis on fostering mutual respect with our partners,we can create lasting and genuine relationships,” said Ms Parker,who grew up in the Pilbara and has worked for Rio for the past 21 years.
“My absolute objective is to harness this approach to help rebuild relationships and regain our standing in Australian society.”
Ms Parker said much focus has been placed on the external damage to Rio’s reputation inflicted by the Juukan Gorge disaster,“but what’s perhaps not as widely recognised is the impact on our own people”.
“Our task,however long it will take,will be to earn back trust both from inside and outside the company,” she said. “What gives me hope for the future is that there are so many people in our company who are determined to help us do better.”
Rio Tinto on Tuesday also vowed to increase transparency in its approach to cultural heritage,including details concerning how traditional owners’ views were being sought and considered and how the company was working to advocate for sector-wide cultural heritage reform. The commitments came after extended engagement with a group of asset owners in the United Kingdom,Europe and Australia.
“Investors put forward very clear requests around what disclosure and governance arrangements we needed to see to ensure that the tragic heritage destruction at Juukan Gorge never happens again,” Ms Blakey said.
“It’s pleasing that we’ve had constructive discussions with Rio Tinto that can support progress towards managing this clear financial risk for investors. The steps the company has agreed to will support broader improvements in practices,disclosure and oversight urgently needed across the mining sector.”
Andy Jones,mining lead at Federated Hermes,said Rio’s disclosure would “better include the voice of affected communities”.
“It is vital for stakeholders to have trust in the company’s approach and actions,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for the company to use hard lessons learned over the past year to set a higher benchmark for company reporting on social impact and community relations.”
Rio Tinto’s move to mend ties with Australia’s Indigenous communities comes as it faces conflict with Native American traditional owners in Arizona,where it is proposing to build an underground copper mine in a joint venture with BHP.
Mr Stausholm said the proposed project was in its infancy and Rio’s lengthy engagement process with affected Apache communities was ongoing. But he said Rio’s lessons from Juukan Gorge about the importance of “direct engagement” would guide the company’s approach.
“This is probably the one thing we really do want to push harder – to see how we can have more direct engagement with the First Nations groups in the US,and,particularly,with the San Carlos tribe,” he said.
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