Rio boss apologises for cave fiasco

The CEO of mining major Rio Tinto has apologized for the distress caused by the company’s unintentional destruction of two sacred Aboriginal caves in Western Australia, saying the company would fully cooperate with the Inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia.

Blasting operations undertaken at Rio’s Brockman mine, in the Pilbara, which resulted in the destruction of the caves which showed evidence of continual habitation dating back some 46 000 years.