... The report refers to the International Council on Mining and Metals’ (ICMM) Position Statement on Indigenous Peoples and mining and its statements regarding free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). As an ICMM member company, we are committed to this Position Statement. In addition, our Human Rights Policy sets out the company’s commitment to respect and support for the dignity, wellbeing and human rights of our employees, the communities in which we live and those affected by our operations. Our human rights approach is based upon the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Our Human Rights Policy also states that we acknowledge and respect Indigenous Peoples’ connections to lands and waters, consistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) ...

We are committed to engaging with communities to understand the social, cultural, environmental, and economic implications of our activities. We also provide communities with easily accessible complaints mechanisms, designed to be culturally appropriate for local communities. We note that the report states that Rio Tinto’s 2017 Statement of Commitment for Indigenous Peoples does not refer to FPIC, or otherwise to consent. We would like to clarify that this document was developed to communicate our approach to engage and partner with Indigenous communities in Canada - it is not a policy statement or applicable across the Rio Tinto Group...

We are working on a significant programme to strengthen our approach to working with Indigenous Peoples, including efforts to modernise our existing agreements in Australia and increasing our field-based capacity to spend more time building relationships with Traditional Owners. We have worked intensively to learn the lessons from Juukan and to apply them to all aspects of communities and social performance and broader human rights work...