Monitoring social impacts of the mining industry

Rio Tinto Iron Ore (RTIO) Indigenous Retention Project

In recent years, the Australian mining industry has proactively increased the representation of Indigenous employees within their workforce. However, although the industry has had some success in recruiting Indigenous employees, retaining these employees has emerged as a major challenge.

The provision of Aboriginal employment and training opportunities form part of current agreements made between RTIO and Aboriginal parties in the Pilbara, and also relate to commitments made by Rio Tinto to broader corporate social responsibility and sustainable development principles.

This project aims to identify factors that contribute to voluntary turnover amongst Aboriginal people employed at RTIO operations in the Pilbara Region of North West Australia. The project includes a survey of former employees of RTIO operations, as well as focus groups with current employees. The survey will identify variations in employment and obtain information about working conditions, employment outcomes, and suggestions for RTIO to improve retention of their Indigenous employees.

The study has four main objectives:

• To support the development of strategies for improving the retention of Aboriginal employees at RTIO operations
• To collect research data that will assist in monitoring employment outcomes
• To assist RTIO to develop improved exit interviewing and follow-up procedures
• To identify former Aboriginal employees who may wish to return to RTIO.

This project will provide valuable research data on long-term employment outcomes for Aboriginal people who have worked at RTIO. The findings will also have broader relevance to both the Rio Group and the mining industry.

Research Contact

Emma Schneider
Email: csrm@uq.edu
Phone: +61 7 3346 4005

Industry Partners

Rio Tinto Iron Ore (RTIO)