Rio Tinto executives have blamed poor communication between silos of the company for its failure to respond to traditional owners' enquiries about the future of Juukan Gorge in 2019 and for the continued laying of explosives after traditional owners raised alarm at plans to destroy the gorge.

The concessions came as Rio's top communities and heritage executive Simone Niven confirmed that prior to the May 24 destruction of the gorge she had not met the traditional owners, nor been aware of the gorge's unique heritage values, and initially felt the tension with the traditional owners was an ''operational matter" best explained by iron ore boss Chris Salisbury.