Fronting a federal parliamentary inquiry into the events on Friday,Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques outlined how the miner had considered four options to expand its Brockman 4 iron ore mine in 2012-13,three of which would have avoided the Juukan shelters by varying distances. But the company opted for a fourth option,Mr Jacques said,which involved destroying the site in order to access a greater amount of higher-grade iron ore.
"The difference was 8 million tonnes of higher-grade iron ore,"Mr Jacques said. The value of that volume of the steelmaking raw material at the time was estimated to be $135 million,he added. In 2019 Rio Tinto shipped 327.4 million tonnes of iron ore from the Pilbara.
Under questioning,Mr Jacques said the land's traditional owners – the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) people – were never told there were other options that could have protected the Juukan Gorge site.
"The PKKP was not made aware that four options were available in 2012 and 2013,"he said."Only one option was presented to the PKKP."
Warren Entsch,chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia,said he was disturbed by the fact the PKKP were not fully informed about other possible mining plans,and wanted the inquiry to delve further into the matter at a later date.
Loading
"When we talk about the principle of free prior and – I highlight –'informed'consent,there is an admission that it was conveyed to the PKKP that there was only one option,"he said."That really bothers me."