Mining

Barrick Gold

Last edited by on June 17, 2009 - 11:05pm
Company Snapshot: 

Barrick Gold Corporation, the largest pure gold mining company in the world, is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. It has four regional business units (RBU's) located in Australia, Africa, North America, and South America. Barrick is currently undertaking mining and exploration projects in Papua New Guinea, the United States, Canada, Australia, Peru, Chile, Russia, South Africa, Argentina, and Tanzania. On January 20, 2006, Barrick acquired a majority share of Placer Dome. The production of the combined organization moved Barrick to its current position as the largest gold producer, ahead of Newmont Mining Corporation.

Number of employees worldwide: 
11,900
Chief executive officer: 
Greg Wilkins
Website: 
Barrick Gold
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Corporate accountability
Accountability overview: 

Barrick Gold claims to be a model corporate citizen and leads the call for "Corporate Social Responsibility" (CSR) in the mining sector. But the "International Cyanide Management Code" that Barrick helped develop raises questions about the depth of the company's commitment to CSR. The Code's legal disclaimer states: "Compliance with this Code is entirely voluntary and is neither intended nor does it create, establish, or recognize any legally enforceable obligations or rights on the part of its signatories, supporters or any other parties."

Controversial Projects:

United States
The Western Shoshone are suing a coordinated community organizing and legal strategy to fight Barrick's expansion into sacred lands. In New Mexico, some communities oppose Barrick subsidiary Homestake's legacy of Uranium contamination. Meanwhile Barrick Gold is pushing ahead with an aggressive $87 million exploration and development program at the big Donlin Creek gold project in Alaska.

Australia
Since the early 1990s, the campaign to stop Barrick's gold mine at Lake Cowal in central western NSW, Australia, has focused on the cultural and ecological significance of the area. Powerful direct actions, community education and legal action carried out by local Aboriginal leaders, indigenous and community activists have tied up and cast doubts on Barrick Gold's huge Lake Cowal project.

Chile and Argentina
From thousands of people marching through the streets of Vallenar, to the non-violent road blockades, people in Chile and Argentina have mobilized to oppose the Pascua Lama/Valedero project. They charge that the project endangers the natural and cultural balance of these area – already a UNESCO biosphere reserve – and threatens its water supply, affecting around 70,000 people in Chile and 24,000 in Argentina. Barrick's exploration activity has already been linked to a 56-70 percent depletion in glaciers, according to the General Water Directorship. Barrick's opponents include the Diaguita Huascoaltinos Indigenous group and Alto del Carmen councilperson Luís Faura Cortes.

Papua New Guinea
At its Porgera Gold Mine, Barrick dumps toxic mine tailings directly into the river. The original landowners complain of a lack of compensation and infrastructure development, and a lack of access to Barrick officials. There is also a large scale human rights crisis involving the death and injury of small scale miners near the mine site.

Peru
For years Peruvians have protested Barrick in the Ancash region using such tactics as a regional 48-hour strike, supported by local politicians. Barrick's activities have provoked local animosities. In 2006, protesters died during the strike in confrontations with the police, some of whom were employed by Barrick.

Tanzania
Barrik's Tanzania's Bulyanhulu and North Mara mines were built upon deaths, displacement and human rights abuses while these mines were owned by other Canadian Mine Corporations, critics claim. The World Bank ombudsperson and Barrick Gold dispute the charges despite video evidence and many testimonies confirming that an estimated 30,000-250,000 people were displaced to make way for this project. Barrick security guards were allegedly culpable in deaths. In 2007, Barrick fired 1,300 strikers at their Bulyanhulu mine after negotiations with management broke down over salaries, working conditions, medical care and other contentious issues.

Philippines
In Spring 2006, when Barrick Gold took over Placer Dome, Inc., it inherited a law suit initiated by provincial authorities on the Philippine island of Marinduque. The suit charges that 27 years of irresponsible mining by Placer Dome (1969-1996) has caused immense damage to the island of Marinduque and its people. Rather than settle the case, compensating Marinduquenos for lost livelihood and funding efforts to rehabilitate the damaged eco-systems, Barrick is waging an expensive and lengthy legal battle to avoid responsibility.

Russia
In 2006, reports surfaced of mine workers in Russia being trapped in fires at underground mines that are rife with environmental violations.

Tax issues: 

Accusations of high-level nepotism and tax evasion have plagued Barrick's Bulyanhulu operations. In July 2007, the Tanzanian government sparked criticism by signing a mining agreement with Barrick that authorized the allegedly undervalued sale of its 15 percent stake in the Bulyanhulu mine.

Labor: 

In 2007, Barrick fired about 1,000 striking workers at its Bulyanhulu mine in Tanzania, after negotiations with management broke down over salaries, working conditions, medical care, and other contentious issues. http://protestbarrick.net/article.php?id=233

Environment and product safety: 

Gold mining is a highly consumptive and environmentally destructive industry. In addition to destroying landscapes, gold mining (especially open-pit gold mining) creates massive amounts of toxic waste that often cause acid mine drainage and heavy metal contamination. Gold mining and metal processing also uses vast amount of water and energy, often subsidized. It also utilizes dangerous chemicals such as cyanide in its leaching processes, posing a threat to local water systems.

EXCERPTS FROM "Barrick's Dirty Secrets," a CorpWatch report:

Water Depletion
Water depletion is a major negative consequence of gold mining, as you can see highlighted in the Lake Cowal, Pascua Lama, and Western Shoshone case studies. The large amount of water required to run a gold mining operation exacerbates its impact on local communities, many of which are already experiencing drought.

The daily water consumption at Barrick’s Lake Cowal mine in Australia is more than of the entire Lismore district (a major regional center in the Northern Rivers region of the state.) Since the mine started operations, the water level near it has dropped from 20 meters to 50 meters below ground level. The mine is licensed to use up to 3,650 million liters a year over the next 13 years and will likely exceed that figure. Meanwhile, the region surrounding the mining site is enduring its eighth year of drought. The exploration and prospecting phase (1990’s) has already been linked to the depletion of glaciers. Barrick attempted to blame global warming for the melting, but those claims have been disproved. Additionally, it should be noted that the Pascua Lama project is situated in the middle of a UNESCO biosphere reserve. *

  • although mine plans to have the open pit be underneath where glaciers now sit have been changed, maps show that tunnels are still planned for these areas. http://www.protestbarrick.net/img/original/tunnel_map_pascua_lama.jpg

Acid Mine Drainage
Open pit mining creates great waste for a small yield. On average, it takes 79 tons of waste to extract one ounce of gold, according to a conservative estimate by the No Dirty Gold campaign, a project of EarthWorks and Oxfam. The process involves grinding up ore, and then exposing it to cyanide in order to extract the gold. Sulfides in the crushed rocks interact with air and water to create sulfuric acid, which in turn creates acid mine drainage (AMD).

In and of itself, AMD is harmful to ecosystems because it makes water too acidic to support life. Additionally, the sulfuric acid in AMD leaches out other substances from the waste ore, such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury, which can have disastrous health effects, and can contaminate both air and water. Metals mining has been linked to 96 percent of the world’s arsenic emissions.

A recent report by the University of Nevada found startlingly high mercury concentrations in the air around a number of northern Nevada gold mines. The highest concentration was measured at Barrick’s Marigold Mine (3120 ng/m3)

Human rights: 

In addition well-documented charges that Barrick projects --e.g. in the U.S., Australia, Chile, and Papua New Guinea -- tread on indigenous rights, the company's mine security forces have been accused of human rights abuses at its mines in Tanzania, and Papua New Guinea.

Political influence (national and international): 

CONTROVERSIAL PEOPLE associated with Barrick:

Brian Mulroney: Prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993, Mulroney negotiated the NAFTA treaty that, under the banner of Free Trade, guaranteed vast quantities of Canada's energy resources to the United States. On leaving office in 1993, he became a director of Barrick and is chairman of Barrick’s International Advisory Board. Mulrony was recently implicated in a corruption scandal.

George Bush Sr. (past senior advisor): George Bush was on board around the time that Barrick paid the US Treasury less than $10,000 to acquired a Nevada mine (on Western Shoshone traditional land) containing $10 billion in gold. The US Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt called this deal, "the biggest gold heist since the days of Butch Cassidy," and "a form of legalized extortion."

Peter Munk (chairman and founder): Munk initially got set up in the gold business with funds from Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi*. He now has his own private island in the Georgian Bay and the University of Toronto Center for International Studies named after him. (*Khashoggi is a well known Saudi arms dealer who was a conduit in the Iran-Contra Scandal -- the deal though which the U.S. used profits from arms sales to Iran to illegally fund the Contras in Nicaragua against the Left-wing Sandinista government.

Gustavo Cisneros: The Venezuelan media mogul who is chairman and chief executive officer of Cisneros Group of Companies has been a director of Barrick since 2003. Cisneros hit the international spotlight for his alleged role in a failed coup to oust Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chavez.

James Sinclair: It has been almost ten years since an estimated 30,000-400,000 small-scale miners were forced off the Buyanhulu mine site in Tanzania to make way for corporate mining. CEO James Sinclair brokered that deal for Sutton Resources. Sutton was a friend of the president of Tanzania and several senior ministers, as was his daughter.