Jamie Lau

Jamie Lau, CEO of the National Native Title Council, speaks with Earth Live about the destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters by Rio Tinto and the unprecedented investor-led campaign that followed.

The Juukan Gorge site in Western Australia's Pilbara region held evidence of continuous human occupation dating back 46,000 years, older than the pyramids, older than Stonehenge, one of the most significant archaeological sites in the world. In May 2020, Rio Tinto destroyed it. Despite knowing about the site's significance and having alternative mining plans they did not disclose, the company made what Lau calls a straightforward 'dollar decision': $135 million worth of iron ore versus 46,000 years of human history. The blast destroyed everything, including 5,000-year-old hair samples preserved in the caves.

Lau describes the aftermath as unprecedented in Australian corporate history. First Nations people across the country were joined by major pension and superannuation funds, whose collective pressure forced the resignation of Rio Tinto's CEO and two senior executives. 'I've been working in this space for a very long time, and I've never seen investors come on board like that,' Lau says. But he is clear that the work is far from finished. Australia still has no treaties with its First Nations peoples, cultural heritage laws remain weak, and mining companies continue to destroy Aboriginal sites across the country. Lau calls for structural reform, board-level First Nations representation, and a global movement connecting communities from the San Carlos Apache in the United States to Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, all fighting the same fight for Indigenous rights against extractive industries.