"We are taking this incident very seriously. We recognise this is clearly very concerning and are sorry for the alarm it has caused in the Western Australian community," Trott said in a statement. "Rio Tinto engaged a third-party contractor, with appropriate expertise and certification, to safely package the device in preparation for transport off-site ahead of receipt at their facility in Perth," he said, adding that Rio was also conducting its own investigation into how the loss occurred.
Early reports suggested the loss was not discovered for almost two weeks after the capsule left Rio's Gudai-Darri mine site. Rio said it was informed by the contractor the capsule was missing on Jan. 25.
"We have completed radiological surveys of all areas on site
where the device had been, and surveyed roads within the mine
site as well as the access road leading away from the
Gudai-Darri mine site," Trott said.
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
