Tensions ease between Rio Tinto and traditional owners
Flare up eases over allegations Rio chairman Simon Thompson reneged on pledges made as part of reconciliation talks.
Tensions between Rio Tinto and the traditional owners of 46,000 year old heritage sites destroyed by the mining giant have eased after a flare up of anger over allegations Rio chairman Simon Thompson reneged on pledges made as part of reconciliation talks.
Relations between the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people took a turn for the worse this week over allegations, revealed in The Australian, that Rio’s recent leadership reshuffle and the removal of acting iron ore boss Ivan Vella from his role leading reconciliation talks breached a personal commitment made by the Rio chairman.
A February 2 letter from acting PKKP Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Grant Wilson says Mr Thompson made a commitment that Mr Vella would keep “leadership and accountability” for repairing the relationship at a “highly emotional” November 24 meeting between the Rio and PKKP boards that laid the foundations for reconciliation work.
The letter accused Rio of breaching that commitment through the executive reshuffle, in which Mr Vella will shortly move to Canada to take charge of the company’s aluminium division, and expressed outrage that Rio’s most senior leaders – including Mr Thompson and new chief executive Jakob Stausholm – had made no formal move to advise the PKKP of the changes, or their impact on the reconciliation process in the week after the restructure.
The fresh fractures in the relationship risked delaying talks on reaching a heads of agreement formalising Rio’s commitments to undo some of the damage inflicted on the heritage sites at Juukan Gorge and restore their relationship with PKKP, and ahead of a planned visit to the site by Mr Stausholm in the coming week.
After talks between senior leaders of the two groups overnight, Rio and PKKP released a joint statement on Friday, with the mining giant admitting fresh missteps in the way it had communicated with its key stakeholders.
“Rio Tinto accepts that it should have communicated the recent executive changes to the PKKP in a more collaborative way,” the statement says.
“PKKP understands that the PKKP relationship is owned by the Chief Executive Iron Ore and as interim Chief Executive Ivan Vella held this accountability in an acting capacity. PKKP took a different perspective from the joint board meeting in November.
“The PKKP acknowledges that it was not the intention of the Rio Tinto Chairman Simon Thompson to mislead the PKKP Board and Elders at the joint board meeting.”
The flare up again damaged fractured relationships between Rio and PKKP, with the letter sent by Mr Wilson noted that traditional owners were now “reluctant to participate in a relationship of this nature any longer”, given the perceived breach of trust.
But both sides took a conciliatory tone after lengthy talks over the latest issues.
“The joint board meeting remains a seminal event in the relationship rebuild. We jointly recognise that in any relationship mistakes are going to be made and it is how we work through these that informs the strength and depth of the ongoing relationship. Both PKKP and Rio Tinto recognise that progress has been made and are equally committed to building on this momentum,” the joint statement said.