[HN Gopher] Rio Tinto blew up 46,000-year-old Aboriginal caves i...
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Rio Tinto blew up 46,000-year-old Aboriginal caves in Western
Australia (2020)
Author : maxwell
Score : 101 points
Date : 2021-07-28 18:12 UTC (47 minutes ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bbc.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.com)
| puritanicdev wrote:
| And they are now trying to do ecocide in Serbia as well...
| cinntaile wrote:
| It did have some consequences.
| https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/911866159/a-mining-company-bl...
| wnevets wrote:
| We're sorry [1]
|
| 1. https://southpark.cc.com/video-clips/l7b4gl/south-park-we-
| re...
| smnrchrds wrote:
| I wish destroying aboriginal heritage got its due media coverage
| and widespread resistance. The topic reminds me of a satire news
| article about Canada, poking fun at oil pipelines passing through
| and destroying first nations religiously important lands.
|
| https://www.thebeaverton.com/2016/12/catholics-beaten-police...
| lostlogin wrote:
| They have recently bailed out of New Zealand, leaving hundreds of
| millions of dollars of waste cleanup at various sites.
|
| They had stored waste that is dangerous if it gets wet in a
| location that bordered a river that floods and was populated. New
| waste discoveries are made periodically - they are a horrible
| company.
|
| https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/443538/rio-tinto-takes-o...
| vkou wrote:
| So, it sounds like they were responsible for hundreds of
| millions of dollars of job creation.
| GuardianCaveman wrote:
| Yeah in the medical industry treating all the cancer victims
| who are exposed to their hazardous waste when they illegally
| dump maybe
| MisterBastahrd wrote:
| This should be prosecuted as crimes against humanity, along with
| lengthy jail times for execs involved in the issue. They won't
| be, for obvious reasons.
| saas_sam wrote:
| My stomach dropped reading this. How horrible.
| UncleOxidant wrote:
| They're sorry.
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| previous discussion when this was news:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23376236
|
| also about the guy resigning:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24448458
| rajandatta wrote:
| This is a crime against humanity - our culture and history. It's
| profoundly disturbing that Rio Tinto gets to do this repeatedly
| with no consequences. To all Australians - what the hell??
| mmaunder wrote:
| This is a year ago and isn't technical or the usual HN content.
| I'm curious why it's ranking. Some sort of current event I missed
| that's related?
| pmontra wrote:
| It got on HN one year ago too
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23376236
| teddyh wrote:
| Outrage wallowing. The kind of that you get here is a bit
| different from what you get in publications aimed at other
| audiences, but that is essentially what it is.
| happytoexplain wrote:
| What is "outrage wallowing"?
| baq wrote:
| HN isn't a technical-only site. Never has been.
| mikepurvis wrote:
| Indeed, and even if someone wasn't interested in the
| historical value of what was lost, there's still the matter
| of the process failure that allowed it to happen (or covered
| up that it was happening, depending on your level of
| cynicism).
| Account123481-x wrote:
| oops
| lupire wrote:
| Article links to a 2013 article about a similar event.
|
| Mining company blows stuff up, pays a small fee, and profits
| handsomely.
|
| What would happen if someone blew up the mining company office
| due to a "paperwork oversight"?
|
| https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-23527303
|
| Dec 2020 update: RT ordered to rebuild the cave:
|
| https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-55250137.amp
|
| Mar 2021 update: Execs fired, given golden parachutes.
| https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56261514.amp
|
| May 2021 update: Shareholders vote 60%-40% to symbolic protest of
| golden parachutes
|
| https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/05/06/business/rio-tinto-shareh...
|
| I'm impressed by the followup reporting. Usually it's hard to
| find updates on things.
| asdff wrote:
| How could they possibly rebuild a prehistorical archaeology
| site that they exploded?
| JRKrause wrote:
| Just wait another 46,000 years and it will rebuild itself in
| a certain sense.
| saas_sam wrote:
| I volunteer to make the replacement human hair belt.
| gruez wrote:
| >What would happen if someone blew up the mining company office
| due to a "paperwork oversight"?
|
| Let's be real here. It's very possible to miss a cave because
| you forgot about it. It's not so easy to miss a office
| building.
| gruez wrote:
| >What would happen if someone blew up the mining company office
| due to a "paperwork oversight"?
|
| Like this?
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_bombing_of_the_C...
|
| allegedly due to an "outdated map".
| alex_c wrote:
| Only thing that comes to mind is South Park's "We're sooorrry"
| clip. This sentence in the Dec 2020 article says it all,
| doesn't it?
|
| "They were seen as one of Australia's most significant
| archaeological research sites, but they also had more than
| eight million tonnes of high-grade iron ore, with an estimated
| value of PS75m (A$132m; $96m)."
|
| Rio Tinto's official page on this is also worth a read.
|
| https://www.riotinto.com/en/news/inquiry-into-juukan-gorge
|
| Fascinating where they choose to use passive vs active voice.
|
| * "Our relationship with the PKKP people extends over more than
| 17 years" * "We are engaging with the PKKP people" * "In
| partnership with the PKKP people, we are focusing on
| understanding" * "We can re-establish a sense of place"
|
| Contrast with:
|
| * "The decision to destroy the rock shelters was taken nearly
| eight years ago" * "the site was reclassified as 'cleared' for
| mining" * "knowledge and awareness of the location and
| significance of the site was progressively lost" * "the Juukan
| 2 rock shelter is likely to be irreparably damaged"
| vmception wrote:
| > Australian Minister for Indigenous Affairs Ken Wyatt, who is
| Aboriginal, said it was "incomprehensible" that the blast had
| gone ahead, but added that it appeared to be a "genuine mistake".
| State laws had failed in this instance, he said.
|
| Pragmatic
| kyleee wrote:
| Mr. Ken Wyatt is probably on the take
| hereforphone wrote:
| What if I told you that those caves would be the same age
| regardless of who inhabited them over the years
| mikestew wrote:
| _What if I told you..._
|
| Then I would be validated in my belief that your reading
| comprehension is poor? Or do you truly believe that the caves
| were formed a mere 46K years ago?
| hereforphone wrote:
| What if I told you that your reading comprehension or
| attention to detail may also not be on point? What if I
| didn't say in that comment that they were formed a mere 46k
| years ago, but that they existed?
| happytoexplain wrote:
| You said "What if I told you that those caves would be the
| same age regardless of who inhabited them over the years".
| The logical implication is that you think the age does
| _not_ refer to the time at which the cave was inhabited,
| but to something else. It is reasonable to assume the only
| other thing you could be referring to is the age of the
| caves themselves, geologically. You should explain your
| thoughts more explicitly, rather than relying on
| implications delivered via sarcasm.
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(page generated 2021-07-28 19:00 UTC)