It emerged on Monday that Rio Tinto is officially not sorry for blowing up the Juukan Gorge caves, only for the brouhaha it has caused.

What's more, Rio's iron ore boss Chris Salisbury finds the reputational damage sustained by the company "quite galling". Which is how the rest of us would characterise the wanton obliteration of 46,000-year-old archaeological treasures. Given what Rio has just (irreparably) done, that Salisbury could right now be preoccupied by Rio's forfeiture of industry leadership in Indigenous affairs is almost inconceivable. Almost.