Aboriginal land law changes hit Rio Tinto’s £217bn Australian project 

Some of the biggest companies on the London stock market are facing tough new laws to preserve Aboriginal heritage in far-off Australia.

But for one blue-chip giant, complaining about the crackdown is strictly off-limits.

Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto has been keeping its head down while a row has erupted over the legislation which comes into force across Western Australia on Saturday.

Despite supporting them in principle, critics are worried they could trigger delays and spiralling costs for a pipeline of 180 major projects worth £217billion.

These include a vast renewable energy hub planned by BP and a new generation of iron ore mines for Rio.

The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act was passed in 2021 after Rio Tinto blew up a sacred, 48,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelter to expand an iron ore mine in the Pilbara.

Rio broke no laws and received a sign-off from the state government. But by ignoring pleas from the local Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people, it sparked global condemnation while exposing the frailty of 50-year-old laws that safeguard Aboriginal heritage.

Western Australia’s majority Labour government seized its opportunity after the debacle. Emergency powers were used to ram beefed-up legislation through parliament with cross-party support.

Much of the goodwill has gone up in smoke since details of how the laws will work were published before Easter, just three months before it comes into force.

Anyone owning the equivalent of a large residential block of land wanting to dig up as little as 4kg of earth – let alone a multinational wanting to blast a hole in the ground – could be forced to navigate a maze of new red tape to ensure they do not damage one of more than 30,000 Aboriginal sites. 

These range from sacred parts of the landscape, like creeks and hilltops, to rock drawings.

Permits will often be required for routine jobs like putting up a fence or digging a trench, with landowners forced to pay consultants to carry out surveys.

A public backlash has been led by pastoralists, many of them descendants of early settlers who claimed land occupied by aboriginal people for thousands of years as their own. It’s fair to say Rio Tinto is not flavour the month.

‘I don’t like to lay the blame, but if Juukan Gorge hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t be in this situation,’ said Debbie Dowden, who runs a huge cattle station set up in 1881.

With just a few days before the new regime comes into force, big companies have now piped up.

Outrage: In 2021 after Rio Tinto blew up a sacred, 48,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelter to expand an iron ore mine in the Pilbara

Australian company Fortescue Metals has warned that navigating the process would take between 16 and 24 months, three to four times longer than under the current approval process.

If true, Rio Tinto – along with fellow FTSE 100 stalwarts BP and Glencore – should be worried.

The Pilbara, a vast expanse, is a jewel in Rio’s crown. It generated almost £6billion from iron ore in the region last year. 

Western Australia is also central to BP’s plans to switch to renewable energy.

It has a 40.5 per cent stake in one of the world’s largest renewables and green hydrogen energy hubs across 2,500 square miles. 

Glencore will be affected as owner of a cobalt and nickel mine.

Landowners will not have to fully comply with the new regime until July 1 next year. Rio Tinto has insisted it is behind the new legislation but declined to comment.

Chief executive Rebecca Tomkinson of the state’s industry mouthpiece, the Chamber of Minerals and Energy, was not entirely relaxed about practicalities. 

She said a ‘functional system of heritage protection is extremely important, and is something we need for progression of the very significant project pipelines and the range of important work we have under way across Western Australia’.