Rio Tinto Limited
(ASX:RIO) owned Gove Operations has signed a memorandum of understanding with the people of northeast Arnhem Land to carry out a feasibility study for bauxite mining on their land.
Should the mine prove to be commercially feasible it would be owned and operated by the Gumatj Aboriginal Corporation.
Gove will support the Gumatj Aboriginal Corporation in their efforts to create a viable and sustainable bauxite mining operation by developing an exploration program to prove the quantity and quality of potential bauxite reserves on Gumatj land.
The agreement comes as Aboriginal leaders call for their communities to become economically independent.
Rio Tinto generated a net profit of $1.8 billion in the first half of fiscal 2013.
