Mining activity has potentially damaged another ancient rock shelter in Western Australia’s Pilbara region leaving traditional owners feeling disappointed. Mining giant Rio Tinto say it is working with the traditional owners to better understand what happened at the heritage listed site, as a result of a blast just 150 metres away. The incident comes three years after the destruction of the Juukan gorge caves.
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00:00 This image shows the before and this the aftermath of the blast.
00:07 A rock and a tree dislodged from the edge of a cave, believed to contain evidence of
00:11 ancient human habitation.
00:13 The site is close to the Namuldi mine near Tom Price.
00:17 It's raised fresh concerns iron ore giant Rio Tinto isn't protecting significant Aboriginal
00:22 heritage sites, despite making international headlines over the destruction of two ancient
00:27 rock shelters at Jukun Gorge in 2020.
00:30 Traditional owners, the Winter Wurri Guruma, say they are disappointed by the report, but
00:35 are yet to establish the extent of the impact on the rock shelter.
00:38 For its part, Rio Tinto says it's examined the site with a drone and doesn't believe
00:43 there's been any damage to culturally sensitive materials, but is planning a site visit to
00:47 be sure.
00:48 We're sorry that this has occurred.
00:50 We're working with Muntagurra Guruma to really understand what happened and ensure we make
00:54 whatever changes we need to make to our controls.
00:57 I'm deeply disappointed that we're in this situation again.
01:00 Yet again, particularly with Rio Tinto, we would have thought that they would have learnt
01:04 their lesson, particularly from Jukun Gorge.
01:07 The WA Greens Senator saying the latest incident demonstrates the need for overarching federal
01:12 heritage protections.
01:14 Aboriginal cultural heritage is the domain of states and territories predominantly, but
01:19 what we need is harmonisation of that.
01:21 Queensland MP Warren Ench was the chair of an inquiry into Jukun Gorge and worries not
01:26 enough has changed.
01:27 A lot of the recommendations that we put forward and the commitments that Rio made after the
01:34 destruction of the Jukun rock shelter, I asked the question how much of that, of their commitments,
01:42 have they actually carried out?
01:44 The traditional owners say they hope to independently establish the facts in the coming weeks.
01:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]