The world’s second and third largest iron ore mining companies, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, are set to overtake premier producer, Brazil’s Vale, in the next few years.
While both companies (notably Rio Tinto) have interests in foreign iron ore sources, the two UK-Australian dual-listed firms have fixed their sights primarily on Australia’s Pilbara region – where both have been extracting billions of tonnes of iron ore over many decades.
What’s often forgotten is that the Pilbara is indisputably Aboriginal-held territory, and was for thousands of years before the miners trampled over the communities’ grounds.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11228.