Colleagues rifling through your underwear drawer. A boss demanding sex in exchange for promotion. Unsolicited nude photos, innuendo, and assaults. These are all experiences of women in Western Australia’s mining industry, as told to a state parliament inquiry. Its report was handed down Thursday, revealing sexual harassment is rife at sites run by large mining firms. The landmark report described the harassment as “appalling” and “generally accepted or overlooked”. Australia’s richest mining companies – including BHP and Rio Tinto – run large operations in the state’s remote Pilbara region, to unearth iron ore, copper and other minerals. Thousands of workers are flown in each season and housed in village camp-style accommodation.(BBC)…[+]