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Worker's helmets from the Rio Tinto mining company in Western Australia
Photo: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Australia's wealthiest mining companies - including BHP and Rio Tinto - operate large operations in the remote Indian Ocean region of the Pilbara to extract iron ore, copper and other minerals.
Thousands of workers are flown in and out each season due to the remote location.
Now a government report has shown that the employees there are sexually harassed, humiliated and abused.
According to this, almost three quarters (74 percent) of all women who work in mining reported having been sexually harassed.
The report says the sexual harassment is "overlooked" or "generally accepted," as CNN also reports.
Critics have long raised concerns about the hard-drinking, male-dominated culture at these camps.
The research states that the workplaces encourage sexual harassment.
Many workers would drink alcohol and take drugs, the mood was aggressive.
"The barbs, assaults and targeting, the devastation and despair of the victims" are "staggering and inexcusable," Inquiry Chair Libby Mettam told Parliament.
One of the key issues identified in the research was the concern of reporting sexual harassment.
Employees spoke of hierarchical power structures that prevented them from doing so.
The mining companies have acknowledged that there are problems and announced changes.
BHP said it had fired 48 employees over the past two years for inappropriate behavior.
Rio Tinto promised to improve the camps.
Employees should be able to report abuse more easily.
An internal investigation by the mining company found that at least 20 women had been raped in the camps in the past five years.
In response to the results, the investigative committee issued a number of recommendations: The camps should be monitored with videos and better illuminated.
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