Rio Tinto will “directly engage” with Indigenous elders rather than confine communications to the hired executives who run Aboriginal corporations on elders’ behalf, as part of efforts to put traditional owners on the same pedestal as prime ministers and presidents.

The plan for stronger “friendships” with both the administrative and cultural leaders of native title groups is one of several reforms to Rio’s community relations and social performance strategy in the wake of last year’s Juukan Gorge scandal.