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FEBRUARY 7-20, 2022 / VOL. 108 ISSUE 3 / GLOBAL MINING NEWS · SINCE 1915 / $5.25 / WWW.NORTHERNMINER.COM
Report reveals serious problems with Rio Tinto’s workplace culture REPORT
| Study outlined “systemic” sexual harassment, bullying and racism
Teck Resources’ QB2 project to cost up to US$500M more than planned CHILE
| Expansion impacted by Covid-19,
weather and subsurface conditions
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Workers at one of Rio Tinto’s iron ore operations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. RIO TINTO
BY CECILIA JAMASMIE
R
io Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) has unveiled the results of an unfavourable external report outlining a culture of “systemic” bullying, sexual harassment and racism at the world’s second largest miner. The company requested the audit, carried out by Australia’s former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, last year. The move was part of an ongoing effort by Rio Tinto’s CEO, Jakob Stausholm, to clean-up the company’s tainted image following the destruction of two 46,000-year-old rock sacred shelters in Western Australia in 2020. The report, covering a fiveyear period and based on a survey answered by about 10,000 Rio Tinto employees, shows that almost 30% of women and 7% of men said they had been sexually harassed at work. Of those, 21 female workers also reported cases of actual or attempted rape or sexual assault. Nearly half of all employees who
responded to an external review of the miner’s workplace culture commissioned by Rio Tinto said they had been bullied, while racism was found to be common across several areas, the report released on February 1, revealed. Stausholm said the results were “disturbing” and that the company would implement all 26 recommendations from the report. “The eye-opener for me was twofold,” Stausholm told Reuters. “I hadn’t realized how much bullying exists in the company and secondly that it’s quite systemic — the three issues of bullying, sexual harassment and racism … that’s extremely disturbing.” Rio Tinto is the latest Australian miner to address issues with its corporate culture. BHP (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) said last year that it had fired 48 workers for sexual attacks and harassment since 2019, in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into sexual assault in Western Australia’s remote fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) sites. Stausholm, a Danish national who took the top post 13 months ago,
has put in practice his crisis management and peacemaking skills since. Besides trying to restore trust with Australian indigenous groups and other stakeholders, the mining executive has faced alleged corruption charges in Guinea related to Rio Tinto’s way of securing rights to the massive Simandou iron ore deposit. The former head of finances has also tackled Oyu Tolgoi’s delay and climbing costs, which triggered Mongolia’s ire to the point of threatening to revoke the 2009 investment agreement underpinning the mine development. This feud was put to bed last month, following Stausholm’s visit to Mongolia. Kellie Parker, Rio Tinto Australia’s chief executive officer, said the company is already addressing issues outlined in the report. Special attention will be given to the company’s internal reporting system after respondents said they had no confidence in complaining to their superiors and felt that doing so could put them or their career prospects in danger. TNM
TOP TEN ‘S’ TRENDS IN ESG / 3
BY CECILIA JAMASMIE
hares in Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A/TECK.B; NYSE: TECK), Canada’s largest diversified miner, tumbled on January 28 after it warned that Covid-19-related costs of its massive Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 (QB2) expansion project in Chile could rise by up to US$500 million. The Vancouver-based company now expects the pandemic to impact the project cost by between US$900 million and US$1.1 billion, up from its previous estimate of US$600 million. It said the increase was mostly tied to inflationary cost pressures, particularly in diesel prices and supplies, as well as absenteeism and labour inefficiencies related to the pandemic. Non-Covid-19 cost pressures related to weather and subsurface conditions also required an additional contingency of up to 5% of the QB2 capital estimate of US$5.26 billion, the miner said. Teck anticipates that it will spend a total of US$1.73 billion to US$1.96 billion on developing QB2 in 2022, including Covid-19 capital. QB2 is Teck’s key growth project. It is slated to begin operations in the second half of the year, doubling the company’s copper production by 2023. The almost-finished expansion will extend the ageing deposit’s life by 28 years and substantially boost production to 300,000 tonnes of copper a year from 23,400 tonnes in 2017. The mining giant is already studying a Phase 3 for the mine, which will double its capacity to 600,000 tonnes of copper a year. The potential extension will make the mine Chile’s second-largest copper operation, after Escondida. It will also situate Quebrada Blanca among the world’s top five copper mines. In terms of costs, Phase 3 would need a $5 billion investment, as it would have to include the installation of a new concentrator. Copper is one of four business units at Teck, besides steelmaking coal, oil and zinc, and is considered
a company priority. The miner, with several steelmaking coal and copper operations in British Columbia, the most western province in Canada, was affected by extreme weather conditions in the region. Floods and freezing temperatures caused interruptions and substantial reductions to rail service and port activities. Coal sales for the fourth quarter reached 5.1 million tonnes, below the 5.2 million to 5.7 million tonnes estimated in its revised guidance issued in December. Elk Valley wasn’t affected by record rainfall in B.C. during November as inventories were low at the time, but cold weather disruptions have led to near-record inventories and the company may have to slow down production if there are further transportation interruptions. TNM
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