Glencore understood to be considering takeover offer while BHP could move again after initial rejection
The global mining industry is braced for a multi-billion pound bidding war for Anglo American amid growing speculation that mining companies are preparing rival bids.
The Australian miner BHP is understood to have sent senior executives to Anglo’s base in South Africa to meet key company stakeholders after an initial offer of £31bn was rebuffed by Anglo’s board last week.
Continue reading...Mining company hit with accusation it contaminated waterways with harmful levels of uranium and lead
Rio Tinto is facing a likely lawsuit in an English court brought by the UK-based law firm Leigh Day on behalf of people living in villages near a mine in Madagascar.
In a letter of claim, a document that is an early step in a lawsuit, the villagers accuse Rio Tinto of contaminating the waterways and lakes that they use for domestic purposes with elevated and harmful levels of uranium and lead, which pose a serious risk to human health.
This story was published in partnership with The Intercept. The reporting for this investigation was supported by a grant from Journalists for Transparency, an initiative of Transparency International.
Continue reading...UK agency also shuts other high-profile cases including Rio Tinto investigation
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office has abandoned a criminal investigation into the Kazakh mining group ENRC, ending a decade-long corruption inquiry mired in controversy.
The SFO updated its website on Thursday with a notice that it had closed the case after concluding there was “insufficient admissible evidence” to prosecute the company.
Continue reading...Perth man dead after altercation in South Kuta bar
An Indonesian man has been arrested and police say will be charged with murder after the death of an Australian man in a Bali bar.
Local media reported that on Wednesday night Perth man Troy Johnston, 40, was drinking at Uncle Benz cafe in South Kuta.
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Continue reading...Follow the day’s news live
The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, also spoke to ABC Radio this morning about how the government is balancing the budget with record high inflation, and all signs pointing to another rate hike from the RBA next week.
Gallagher says there will be mortgage pain for over a fifth of mortgage holders:
We’re expecting about 20% of mortgage holders to come off fixed rate loans this year.
We always said 2023 was going to be challenging year … Dealing with the inflation challenge is a key economic priority for the government.
What you’ll see is a continued focus on cost-of-living relief, funding those priority areas like health and aged care and making sure we’re getting the balance right in terms of spending restraint, banking upgrades and looking for sensible savings where we can.
There’s no doubt that migrants have been key to the formation of modern Australia.
I think [migrants] should be recognised for their contribution to this country. And I think that’s fair enough, but that’s not minimising the Indigenous.
Continue reading...Business leaders and decarbonisation experts say a high level of collaboration and coordination is needed for transition
The regional powerhouses of Australia’s industrial economy could slash their greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% and become centres for multibillion-dollar investments in renewable energy, according to a report backed by some of the country’s biggest companies.
Bringing down emissions from producing iron, steel, aluminium, chemicals and liquefied natural gas is seen as one of the most challenging parts of Australia’s efforts to reach net zero.
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Continue reading...Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people will have say on future of mines on native title area, two years after heritage site was blown up
The traditional owners of Juukan Gorge have signed a preliminary agreement with Rio Tinto to co-manage land that is still being mined for iron ore.
The Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people said the mining giant broke their trust with the destruction of the 46,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage site, which was blown up by Rio Tinto in May 2020 in an effort to access more high-grade iron ore at its Brockman 4 mine.
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Continue reading...Mining giant funded latest excavation at Yirra, which yielded stone tools, charcoal and bone showing habitation during the last ice age
An Aboriginal sacred place located 65 metres from a land bridge used by Rio Tinto to haul iron ore is at least 50,000 years old, with new research finding evidence of occupation during the height of the last ice age.
The mining giant, which funded the latest excavation, has promised to ensure the site “is preserved for future generations”.
Continue reading...Transparency advocates ‘can’t make sense’ of decision to exclude resource industry figures from sanctions
The Morrison government is facing questions over why it has not included two Russian oligarchs, who have assets in Australia, among those it has imposed sanctions against over the invasion of Ukraine.
Oleg Deripaska, who has a stake in an alumina refinery in Gladstone run by Rio Tinto, and Viktor Vekselberg, who has an interest in a gas project in the Beetaloo Basin, were not among 41 oligarchs and family members Australia’s department of foreign affairs and trade hit with sanctions on Monday.
Continue reading...Crowds chanted slogans condemning government of Aleksandar Vučić, which backs planned Anglo-Australian $2.4bn mine
Thousands of demonstrators blocked major roads across Serbia on Saturday as anger swelled over a government-backed plan to allow mining company Rio Tinto to extract lithium.
In the capital, Belgrade, protesters swarmed a major highway and bridge linking the city to outlying suburbs as the crowd chanted anti-government slogans while some held signs criticising the mining project.
Continue reading...People in the Jadar valley fear environmental catastrophe as Europe presses for self-sufficiency in battery technology
Photographs by Vladimir Zivojinovic
A battery sign, flashing dangerously low, appears superimposed over a view of the globe as seen from space. “Green technologies, electric cars, clean air – all of these depend on one of the most significant lithium deposits in the world, which is located right here in Jadar, Serbia,” a gravel-voiced narrator announces. “We completely understand your concerns about the environment. Rio Tinto is carrying out detailed analyses, so as to make all of us sure that we develop the Jadar project in line with the highest environmental, security and health standards.”
Beamed into the country’s living rooms on the public service channel RTS, the slick television ad, shown just after the evening news, finishes with images of reassuring scientists and a comforted young couple walking into the sunset: “Rio Tinto: Together we have the chance to save the planet.”
Continue reading...Dodson criticises ‘poor judgment’ but Ben Wyatt says move will pressure other companies to appoint Aboriginal people to boards
Labor senator Pat Dodson has launched a scathing attack on the former West Australian Aboriginal affairs minister, Ben Wyatt, for joining the board of mining giant Rio Tinto, saying it showed “poor judgment” and would “do nothing” to restore Rio’s reputation after the Juukan Gorge disaster.
Wyatt, a Yamatji man, was the Aboriginal affairs minister and treasurer in WA from 2017 to March this year when he retired from parliament.
Continue reading...Rio Tinto’s reputation is in pieces, but the laws, policies and power imbalances that allowed the blast to happen remain largely unchanged
The Western Australian government has refused to commit to a moratorium on approving the destruction of Aboriginal heritage sites, despite the recommendation of a federal inquiry which found that the laws are “unfit for purpose”.
The recommendation was made by an inquiry into Rio Tinto’s destruction of Aboriginal heritage sites at Juukan Gorge on 24 May 2020.
Continue reading...Chief executive Jakob Stausholm says he will make heritage protection be ‘felt in the hearts and minds’ of his employees
Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm has pledged to make protecting cultural heritage an issue which is “felt in the hearts and minds” of his employees in an effort to avoid another Juukan Gorge-style disaster.
The mining company on Tuesday announced it would publicly report to investors on its progress on improving cultural heritage systems and renewing trust with traditional owners, as it attempts to rebuild its shattered social capital.
Continue reading...Traditional owners acknowledge mining company’s efforts in rebuilding relationship but say more needs to be done
High-level talks have been held between Rio Tinto and the traditional owners of the Juukan Gorge rock shelter in an attempt to repair the fractured relationship.
Rio blew up the 46,000-year-old caves in Western Australia’s Pilbara region in May to extract $188m worth of high-grade iron ore, devastating the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) people.
Continue reading...Parliament committee says miner must negotiate a compensation deal with traditional owners and ‘ensure a full reconstruction’ of the caves
A parliamentary inquiry into the destruction of 46,000-year-old caves has delivered a scathing report criticising the actions of Rio Tinto and calling for the Western Australian government to put a stop to the destruction of heritage until new laws are passed.
The majority bipartisan interim report said Rio Tinto’s decision to destroy two rock shelters in Juukan Gorge, against the wishes of the traditional owners and despite knowing the archaeological value of the site, was “inexcusable”.
Continue reading...Analysis: Amid rising trade tensions, Chinese interests are keen to develop a high-quality deposit in Guinea. Analysts warn any restrictions on Australian sales to China would ‘send shockwaves through the market’
Across China and around the clock, furnaces fuelled by Australian iron ore pump out the steel the country needs to build its way out of the coronavirus downturn.
But as China’s trade war with Australia has become louder, working its way from unofficial stoppages to swingeing tariffs on barley and wine, so too have rumblings that the country may slow or end its use of Australian ore.
Continue reading...In a statement to Australian Stock Exchange the company confirms move that follows the blowing up of 46,000-year-old caves in Western Australia
The Rio Tinto chief executive, Jean-Sébastien Jacques, and two other senior executives are leaving the global miner after its board bowed to intense investor pressure for strong action over its decision to blow up 46,000-year-old rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
Rio Tinto said Jacques was leaving “by mutual agreement” with the board.
Continue reading...Exclusive: WA minister gave consent to BHP plan just three days after Juukan Gorge site was blown up by Rio Tinto in a move that has horrified the public
Mining giant BHP Billiton is poised to destroy at least 40 – and possibly as many as 86 – significant Aboriginal sites in the central Pilbara to expand its $4.5bn South Flank iron ore mining operation, even though its own reports show it is aware that the traditional owners are deeply opposed to the move.
In documents seen by Guardian Australia, a BHP archaeological survey identified rock shelters that were occupied between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago and noted that evidence in the broader area showed “occupation of the surrounding landscape has been ongoing for approximately 40,000 years”.
Continue reading...Mining giant detonated explosives at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia, destroying two ancient rock shelters
Mining giant Rio Tinto has apologised to traditional owners in Western Australia’s north after destroying a significant Indigenous site dating back 46,000 years, saying it is urgently reviewing plans for other sites in the area.
Rio detonated explosives in a part of the Juukan Gorge last Sunday, destroying two ancient rock shelters, which has devastated the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people.
Continue reading...