Rio Tinto directors believed they would be legally vulnerable had they cancelled all departure payments upon terminating three executives over the Juukan Gorge scandal and have since given themselves greater “clawback” powers.

The chairman of Rio’s remuneration committee, Sam Laidlaw, acknowledged on Friday that the size of the exit packages awarded to former chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques, iron ore boss Chris Salisbury and corporate affairs boss Simone Niven was “contentious” among some shareholders.