BHP said the cause of the rock fall is not known.The cause of the damage remains unclear, with BHP and the relevant traditional owner group, the Banjima people, jointly investigating. BHP said the site, which is a rock shelter, was not part of current mining operations and it noticed the rock fall there during regular monitoring activities, following which it notified the Banjima.
Senator Dodson said while the approvals provided mining companies with legal rights to proceed with work that impacted Aboriginal heritage sites, the companies “know full well that this is unacceptable behaviour because of the inadequacy of the law”. Senator Dodson said while it remained unclear what had caused the disruption to the site at Mining Area C, mining companies needed to “take a far greater level of care and concern with how they go about their work plans, their mine planning and their relationship and communication with the traditional owners”.
BHP said the heritage site in question was first recorded in 2005 with the Banjima. It said the site does not contain rock art or archaeological deposits and could not be dated. BHP said it gained Section 18 approval for the site following consultation with the Banjima and with their support. A spokesman for the Banjima confirmed the Heritage Council met with BHP executives on February 11 to “clarify the initial report’s details and [the] progress of the investigation”.The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility is a shareholder activist group which has been vocal about the protection of Aboriginal cultural heritage, including by BHP. Its strategy lead, James Fitzgerald, said mining companies were “operating in an environment of virtual self-regulation”.