CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Rio Tinto chairman Simon Thompson says he is accountable for the mining giant destroying sacred Indigenous sites in Australia to access iron ore and he will not seek reelection as a board director next year. Three other executives have left the company since the two rock shelters in Juukan Gorge that had been inhabited for 46,000 years were destroyed in May. Thompson said the tragedy was a source of sadness and a breach of company values that overshadowed the company’s successes last year. Western Australia’s state government has promised to update Indigenous heritage laws that allowed Rio Tinto to legally destroy the sacred sites.
