Rio Tinto hosted media to Gudai-darri's mine, plant and 34 megawatt solar farm last week, as well as its Dampier port and rail operations. At Gudai-darri, Rio will not mine below the water table in order to conserve an aquifer important to the Banjima people. Iron ore exports were worth A$124 billion ($78.79 billion) last year. Earlier this month, Aboriginal elders walked off a heritage survey on a Rio Tinto iron ore project over concerns it had played down the harm it caused them after blasting impacted an Indigenous rock shelter in August. Rio, which began shipping iron ore in 1966, shares the region with other iron ore majors including BHP Group (BHP.AX) and Fortescue (FMG.AX).

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Persons: Melanie Burton, Fortescue, Rio, Miral Organizations: REUTERS, Rio Tinto, BHP Group, Thomson Locations: Rio, Dampier, Port Dampier, Perth, Australia, DAMPIER, Western Australia, Rio Tinto's, darri, Rio Tinto