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Sept 22 (Reuters) - Australian miner Rio Tinto (RIO) said on Friday it was pausing work at a mining site in the Pilbara region, after a Pilbara scrub tree and a one square metre rock fell from the overhang of a rock shelter in an area adjacent to the site.

The incident at Nammuldi iron ore mine site was identified by the company last month.

"Initial assessments taken by drone haven't found structural damage to the rock shelter or impacts to any cultural materials," the company said in a statement on its website.

The world's biggest iron ore producer shipped 161.7 million metric tons of the steel-making ingredient from its Pilbara operations in the first half of this year.

The company added that the Muntulgura Guruma people, traditional owners of the land, have been notified of the incident.

"We are working closely with the Muntulgura Guruma people to better understand what has happened."

In 2020, Rio Tinto destroyed two ancient and sacred rock shelters in the Pilbara region of Western Australia as part of an iron ore mine expansion, fuelling a global uproar and damaging the miner's reputation.