Juukan Gorge controversy: Rio Tinto hires new chair in leadership overhaul
Rio Tinto has appointed a new chair, which forms part of the miner’s board overhaul this year following the Juukan Gorge controversy.
Incoming chair Dominic Barton will join the board in April, and be appointed to role at its annual shareholder meeting a month later after spending three decades at the consultancy heavyweight McKinsey & Company.
Shares slipped 2.3 per cent to 4,760.5p per share near market close.
Succeeding current chair Simon Thompson in the role, the new appointment looks to bring a close to last year’s tragedy in Australia.
Thompson said he would step down from the board in March, adding: “The tragic events at Juukan Gorge are a source of personal sadness and deep regret, as well as being a clear breach of our values as a company.
“As chairman, I am ultimately accountable for the failings that led to this tragic event.”
Rio Tinto destroyed a sacred Aboriginal cave system, which sat on top of around £75m worth of high-grade iron ore.
The cave system, near Pilbara, had shown signs of continues human occupation for more than 46,000 years, before it was blown up.
A parliamentary inquiry at the time found the iron ore giant to have gone against the wishes of traditional landowners despite knowing of the archaeological value.
The report said: “Rio knew the value of what they were destroying but blew it up anyway.”
Thompson is the latest member of the C-suite to depart the miner after the controversy, following former CEO Jean-Sébastien Jacques and several other executives.
New CEO Jakob Stausholm, who stepped into the role at the beginning of the year, said he was “acutely aware of the need to restore trust” in the miner.
In hopes of tidying up its image, the mining giant in June also added a former Aboriginal affairs minister to its board.