Insight - Investors press mining firms to revamp heritage oversight

Call for changes: A file picture showing Rio Tinto’s operations in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. Institutional investors are increasingly focusing on ESG issues to mitigate risk for the long-term investments they hold. — AFP

RIO Tinto’s destruction of sacred indigenous rock shelters in Australia this year has dismayed and galvanised a swathe of investors who want big changes in how mining firms manage heritage issues and have begun to tell them so.

They have stepped up communication with mining companies both in volume and frequency, putting them on notice to improve accountability and risk management, according to Reuters interviews with two dozen major investors and corporate governance advisers.