A Mining Company Blew Up Important 46,000-Year-Old Historical Site And It's Not Even Sorry

A large, critical site that contains traces of 46,000 years of continuous settlement was destroyed, and every single piece of indigenous culture was killed with it too. The destruction was done to expand an iron ore mine in Australia.

The site in question is a cave is located in Juukan Gorge, around 60 km from Mount Tom Price digging site. It was one of the oldest settlements by humans in the country, it was also the only site on the mainland to inhabit humans during the last ice age. It was destroyed a few weeks ago.

In 2014, the firm funded exploration of the cave. There were a lot of discoveries throughout the Pilbara Region search effort, such as a plaited hair strand of 4,000 years old containing DNA of several people that link directly to living indigenous people in Australia these days, and a sharpened marsupial bone of 28,000 years old, which is the earliest example of grindstones in the region.

Previously, the mining firm expressed their sympathies for what they had done to indigenous people. However, a leaked telephone recording indicated that the company doesn’t seem to apologize for destroying the historical site at all. In a press conference, Rio Tinto’s head of iron ore department Chris Salisbury said:

“That’s why we haven’t apologized for the event itself, per se, but apologized for the distress the event caused...”

Rio Tinto was apparently extra careful with their phrasing in their press statement. At the beginning of this month, the company stated:

 “We pay our respects to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura People (PKKP). We are sorry for the distress we have caused. Our relationship with the PKKP matters a lot to Rio Tinto, having worked together for many years.”

The leaked call recording suggests that the company is sorry that people are upset, but not sorry for what they did.

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