• Foreign Affairs
  • Money Matters
  • Domestic Affairs
  • IT, Innovation and Startups
 

Talk Finance

£$$€№₮IAL €¢¤₦¤MI¢ №€₩$
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Money Matters
  • Domestic Affairs
  • IT, Innovation and Startups

Talk Finance

  • Foreign Affairs
  • Money Matters
  • Domestic Affairs
  • IT, Innovation and Startups

In Foreign Affairs

Rio Tinto chairman has left the company amid the ‘sacred cave’ destruction

3rd March 2021

Rio Tinto chairman has left the company amid the ‘sacred cave’ destruction Pin It

The chairman of the large mining group Rio Tinto is about to resign because of the destruction of Aboriginal heritage during the expansion of an iron ore mine in Australia. Chairman Simon Thompson has indicated that he will not be re-elected at Rio Tinto’s shareholders ‘ meeting next year.

In September, already the top man of the miner resigned over the issue, as did two other directors. The British-Australian firm destroyed caves in the Juukan gorge in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia in May last year, which were inhabited by Australia’s Indigenous people 46,000 years ago.

The case led to great public controversy in Australia and fierce criticism from shareholders of Rio Tinto. Thompson says that as chairman, he is ultimately responsible for Rio Tinto and will therefore resign. According to Thompson, some mistakes were made by the company.

The miner initially defended the destruction of the Juukan cave by pointing out an agreement that had been made with the local authorities. But protests from Aboriginal leaders, who said they had not been informed of the planned explosion until it was too late to prevent it, led the company to apologize.

The company also cut bonuses for Jacques and two other senior executives, worth a combined £3.8 million ($5 million). But it didn’t immediately fire any executives, which led to more criticism of the company’s response.
Jacques handed the reins over to Chief Financial Officer Jakob Stausholm on January 1. Chris Salisbury, head of the iron ore business, and Simone Niven, group executive for corporate relations, also left the company at the end of December.
Rio Tinto said in its annual report that in determining the final payout to all three departing executives, “the board fully recognized the gravity of the destruction at Juukan Gorge but was mindful that the three executives did not deliberately cause the events to happen, they did not do anything unlawful, nor did they engage in fraudulent or dishonest behavior or willfully neglect their duties.”

In the same time the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has issued Rio Tinto Limited with amended assessments of A$359.4m (US$279.8m) primary tax and A$47.1m (US$36.7m) of interest. This is in addition to the more than A$8.4bn (US$6.4bn) of Australian income tax paid during the relevant period. The assessments relate to the denial of interest deductions on an isolated borrowing used to pay an intragroup dividend in 2015. This borrowing was repaid in 2018. Borrowing to fund the payment of a dividend is a normal commercial practice. Rio Tinto is confident of its position and will dispute the assessments. In accordance with the usual practice Rio Tinto will pay 50% of the primary tax up-front as part of the objections process.

Share

No Comments

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Previous Post

In January 2021 Germany…

In Foreign Affairs

In January 2021 Germany exported 30 percent less to the United Kingdom

View Post

Next Post

The newly formed Stellantis counts…

In Money Matters

The newly formed Stellantis counts on strong growth in sales

View Post

In Money Matters

Just Eat Takeaway may become active in the grocery delivery market

View Post

In Money Matters

EasyJet operated at 14 percent capacity in the last six months

View Post

In Money Matters

Royal Shell asked shareholders for opinion on the ‘green plan’

View Post

In Money Matters

Dutch company acquires Sentinel Performance Solutions

View Post

Newsletter

Latest News

View

Brexit causes a massive HR re-distribution among financial specialists

18th April 2021

View

Jack Ma considers divestment from ANT Group

18th April 2021

View

Europeans are concerned about personal data use in GB

16th April 2021

View

EU and UK remain committed to resolve the trade issues

16th April 2021

Allow us to introduce ourselves

Talk-Finance.co.uk, the analytic media. We are focused on the fresh business, M&A and financial data. We pay attention to the interesting new projects and startups while not letting the whole picture to let unnoticed.

  • Investing.com
  • Runch.co.uk

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Our friendly crew

  • Matthew Patridge, the chief Editor
  • Chris Kimble, the managing Editor
  • Matthew Weller, webmaster&technical stuff
  • Charles Sizemore, author
  • David Stevenson, author
  • Helen Rush, author

Contact us by [email protected]

© 2019 Talk Finance - All Rights Reserved. [email protected]