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Events/Environment · 2020

Juukan Gorge rock shelters destroyed

Environment, 24 May 2020 (the Guardian of 26 May says the blast was on Sunday), Australia.

What happened

Rio Tinto blasted the Juukan Gorge rock shelters in the Pilbara in May 2020 to expand the Brockman 4 iron ore mine. ABC says the shelters showed 46,000 years of continuous human habitation. The destruction was legal under section 18 of WA's Aboriginal Heritage Act. Rio Tinto's board review in August 2020 cut executive bonuses.1,2,3,4

Why it matters

Rio Tinto's board review followed and its chief executive and two senior executives lost their 2020 bonuses.1,2,3,4

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Blaenavon Industrial Landscape inscribed

    UNESCO World Heritage listing event.5

  2. Kiruna relocation announced

    It is a case of a town moved because of the mine beneath it.6,7,8

  3. Bento Rodrigues dam failure, Mariana, Brazil

    Wikidata records 17 deaths in the tailings dam failure.9

  4. Fundao tailings dam collapse at Mariana

    It is Brazil's worst environmental disaster and led to the largest mining liability cases in the UK and Brazil.10,11,12

  5. Brumadinho dam disaster

    Brumadinho dam disaster. Wikidata records 269 deaths.13

  6. Juukan Gorge rock shelters destroyed

    Rio Tinto's board review followed and its chief executive and two senior executives lost their 2020 bonuses.1,2,3,4

  7. Australia exports 746 Mt of iron ore to China

    USGS records 746 Mt of iron ore including pellets exported to China in 2022.14

  8. Australia mines 980 Mt of iron ore

    USGS estimates 980 million tonnes of crude iron ore from Australian mines in 2025.15

Open the full timeline

Where next

People

ExamplesWajarri Yamatji ochre miners of Wilgie Mia (group)Wilgie Mia ochre is about 27,000 years old. Juukan Gorge showed 46,000 years of habitation.16

Sources

  1. Rio Tinto blasts 46,000-year-old Aboriginal site to expand iron ore mine (26 May 2020) The Guardian
  2. Rio Tinto executives stripped of bonuses over destruction of Juukan Gorge rock shelters (24 Aug 2020) ABC News (Australia)
  3. Rio Tinto publishes board review of cultural heritage management (25 Aug 2020)
  4. Juukan Gorge (item Q102115281), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  5. Blaenavon Industrial Landscape UNESCO World Heritage Centre
  6. Moving a town to save a mine: the story of Kiruna (2019) Mining Technology
  7. A history of LKAB
  8. Kiruna (item Q83232), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  9. Wikidata item Q21402069 (Bento Rodrigues dam disaster)
  10. London judge rules BHP liable for 2015 Brazil dam collapse (14 Nov 2025) The Guardian
  11. Fundao dam disaster report (2017) London Mining Network
  12. Bento Rodrigues dam disaster (item Q21402069), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  13. Wikidata item Q60998244 (Brumadinho dam disaster)
  14. 2022 Minerals Yearbook: Australia [Advance Release] U.S. Geological Survey
  15. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Iron Ore U.S. Geological Survey
  16. Ochre (Mining and Energy Western Australia exhibition) State Library of Western Australia

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Autonomous trucks by RobSimmons223311, CC BY-SA 4.0; Conveyors, rail and ports by Kabelleger / David Gubler, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Kirunavaara gruva, Kiruna., Fotograf okänd, / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).