Fortescue Metals CEO Elizabeth Gaines blasts Juukan testimony
The destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters by Rio in May triggered a firestorm of controversy.
Fortescue Metals CEO Elizabeth Gaines has criticised the traditional owners of the destroyed Juukan Gorge rock shelters over their testimony at a Senate inquiry into the controversy.
Representatives of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people of Western Australia’s Pilbara region on Monday attacked Fortescue for applying to have a prospecting licence near Juukan Gorge upgraded to a mining lease.
The PKKP representatives said Fortescue had made the application without any warning to the PKKP and despite a mining moratorium agreed on in the area between the group and Rio Tinto.
But Ms Gaines challenged the PKKP’s version of events, saying the group had been informed in advance of the application.
“I must admit I was surprised and a little disappointed because we did advise them that we intended to convert that prospecting licence to a mining lease,” Ms Gaines said.
“But it’s fair to say they’ve got a lot on their plate as well; they were appearing before a major inquiry yesterday (and) that’s where their primary focus is.”
The destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters by Rio in May triggered a firestorm of controversy after global outrage over the incident. Rio chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques and two senior executives have since resigned, while the WA government has introduced plans to overhaul the heritage laws that gave Rio consent to mine the caves.
Ms Gaines said the company had held the prospecting licence in the area since 2012 and had previously worked with the PKKP people to survey the area.
The PKKP had been told of the mining lease application plans at a meeting between Fortescue and the group on September 10. Fortescue then lodged its application on September 27.
“We did actually advise them that we plan to apply for that mining lease because the prospecting licence was coming to its expiry,” Ms Gaines said. “It’s not new land, we don’t have any current plans to mine there, and we’ve said that we will work with them to conduct an extensive survey of the area and work closely with them.
“We operate on an avoidance basis anyway. We are not planning to mine there, but it was expiring and it is usual practice to convert an expiring prospecting licence into a mining lease.”
Fortescue came under fire on several fronts this week amid ongoing hearings by the Senate inquiry into Juukan Gorge. Moments after addressing the PKKP’s criticism of the company, two other Aboriginal groups used the inquiry to criticise Fortescue’s conduct.
Asked about the new Aboriginal heritage legislation proposed in WA, which now looks increasingly likely to not make it into parliament before next year, Ms Gaines said she was confident the mining industry would be allowed to continue to move ahead with new developments before the new rules were finalised.
“There’s an acknowledgment that the transitional arrangements will need to be very carefully worked through on the basis that it doesn’t actually impact on development,” she said.
Peter Kerr, CEO of small iron ore miner Mount Gibson Iron said he expected the new legislation would formalise what were already largely standard practices for many mining companies.
Mr Kerr said his company would take traditional owners to its proposed Shine iron ore mine in WA’s Mid West in the coming days to be “doubly sure” there were no heritage issues at the site.