PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Major Rio Tinto has announced a A$5.6-million investment into cultural heritage protection in Western Australia.

The miner will invest A$5.6-million over five years into the Pilbara Cultural Land Management Project (PCLMP) that enables Pilbara Traditional Owners to work together to preserve their Country and culture and keep their people strong.  

The PCLMP was established in 2019, supported by the Pilbara Development Commission, as a response to the Pilbara Creative and Cultural Strategy, which highlighted cultural land management as a priority and the opportunity to support Pilbara Traditional Owners to lead projects that address land management and access.

The PCLMP has continued to evolve over the past two years as its members drive the design and development of a programme to support cultural and conservation management across their native title determinations.   

Rio Tinto’s partnership will strengthen the ability of the 12 participating PCLMP members to engage in training programmes to help develop tools that support cultural, heritage and environmental mapping, monitoring and management. This will also include the provision of startup support for ranger programmes, creating a network of knowledge-sharing as well as career development pathways.

The priorities and training programmes have been developed by Traditional Owners for Traditional Owners to increase Aboriginal ownership and determination of programmes - providing greater employment opportunities and ongoing social and cultural benefits.

Rio Tinto VP for health, safety, environment and communities Cecile Thaxter says the company is grateful to be part of this collaboration and wants to strengthen its relationship with Traditional Owners in the Pilbara through the development of sustainable ranger programmes that provide social, cultural and environmental benefits.

“The Traditional Owners who make up the PCLMP have been caring for Country for thousands of years and through this project Traditional Owners will have a greater say in the decisions that affect them.

“We recognise the importance of Traditional Owners taking the lead in caring for their Country and the importance of combining traditional knowledge with conservation training to protect and manage land, waters and culture.”

Rio has been working to rebuild trust with Traditional Owners in Australia since the Juukan Gorge incident, in 2019, when blasting operations conducted by Rio destroyed the Juukan Gorge rock shelters.