Protesters warn Rio Tinto wants to destroy sacred Native American site

The new boss of Rio Tinto is under pressure to scrap controversial plans for a mine in Arizona that would destroy an area sacred to Native Americans.

Campaigners warn it could be a repeat of a scandal in Australia that threw the firm into crisis.

Rio sparked global outrage after it blew up two 46,000-year-old Aboriginal caves in the Juukan Gorge to expand an iron ore mine in May last year.

Within months its chief executive, Jean-Sebastien Jacques, and two other top bosses had been forced to resign.

Rio’s new head, former finance director Jakob Stausholm, has been urged to cancel plans for a copper mine in the south-west US state of Arizona, in an area sacred to Native Americans who live on the nearby San Carlos Apache reserve. 

Rio’s pledge not to repeat its mistakes at Juukan Gorge, which landed it with the nickname ‘Rio TNT’, is about to be put to the test.

The US Forest Service has said it will release a final environmental assessment on the Resolution Copper mine this month after an eight-year process.

The report may pave the way for a controversial land swap that would allow Rio and its partner, fellow mining giant BHP, to pursue the project. 

Publication will come five days before President Trump leaves office and he is expected to give it the green light.

Of its actions in Western Australia, Rio’s chairman Simon Thompson said the company is ‘committed to learning from this event, to ensure the destruction of heritage sites of such exceptional archaeological and cultural significance never occurs again’.

The San Carlos Apache tribe has accused it of trying to repeat the same ‘atrocities’. Roger Featherstone, of local campaign group the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, told the Mail: ‘If Simon Thompson’s words that that will never happen again actually mean something then the company would walk away from the proposal.

‘For the Native American community it would destroy their land-based religion, take away a key part of their identity.’

The Oak Flat area would be destroyed, Featherstone claims, by the type of huge underground mine Rio is planning. It has long been a source of food for local peoples, he says, and a place of prayer and ceremonies.

He added: ‘In stopping this mine we would be doing both companies and their shareholders a favour because not only would it destroy a religion, which is unacceptable in today’s world, but in a worst-case scenario a failed mine would put a financial as well as a social black eye over the company as well. 

This is a no-win situation for Rio Tinto and it is in everybody’s interest for the new management to walk away.’

Once the Forest Service’s report is released, a 45-day consultation period will allow people to submit objections. The service must then respond within another 90 days.

Even if Rio wins approval there would still be many hoops to jump through and it would need planning permissions from the Joe Biden administration to begin. 

It would also need to spend years consulting with local communities and doing its own studies to determine whether or not the project is worth undertaking.

Rio is leading on the project, which is a 55 per cent-45 per cent joint venture with BHP.

The Resolution Copper mine could supply around a quarter of US demand for the metal, playing a key role in the development of electric vehicles and other eco-friendly technology. 

Stausholm took over at Rio on January 1. His appointment was a surprise to investors, many of whom expected an external candidate who could repair its reputation.

Investors in Australia said Rio should have an Australian boss who could build better relationships with Aboriginal communities. About 85 per cent of profits come from the country.

Although blowing up the Juukan Gorge sites was legal, an Australian parliamentary inquiry said Rio knew how important they were to the local Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people, who said the action had been ‘soul-destroying’.

MPs branded its actions ‘inexcusable’ and have demanded the caves are rebuilt. Rio was heavily criticised, with Jacques failing to make a public apology for a fortnight after the event.

Rio said: ‘Publication of the final environmental impact statement and completion of the land exchange is by no means the conclusion of the process. 

Resolution Copper is committed to engagement with the Forest Service, tribes and the community to continue shaping the project and building programmes that protect Native American cultural heritage and diversify the local economy.’