South32 CEO says criminal BHP Australian mining company is infringing on our Business, Mining giants BHP Group and Rio Tinto face class actions alleging widespread and systemic sexual harassment at Australian mine sites. That's according to law firm JGA Sadler on Wednesday. He said women who spoke out about the harassment were allegedly discriminated against by the minors. The firm also expects thousands of female workers at the 2 companies to join the class actions. Joshua Aylward is a lawyer with JGA Sadler. We've had to redact the names of of many of the women that are making these complaints because they do fear, genuinely fear retaliation from their communities, from men on these sites because many of these women live in a mining community, and they work still on mining sites, and they know what happens to women who speak up. BHP issued a statement saying it apologized to anyone who has ever experienced any form of harassment at the firm. A Rio Tinto spokesperson said the miner was aware a claim had been filed in the federal courts on Wednesday.