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Barrick Gold

Last edited by crocodyl on May 23, 2008 - 11:17am
Global Fortune 500 position: 
369
Ownership status: 
Publicly traded
Number of employees worldwide: 
11,900
Chief executive officer: 
Greg Wilkins
Website: 
Barrick Gold
Company Snapshot: 

Barrick Gold Corporation is the largest pure gold mining company in the world, with its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and 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 organisation moved Barrick to its current position as the largest gold producer, ahead of Newmont Mining Corporation.

Corporate accountability
Accountability overview: 

While Barrick Gold claims to be a model corporate citizen, leading the call for "Corporate Social Responsibility" (CSR) in the mining sector. By taking a quick look at the "International Cyanide Management Code" – which Barrick helped develop – their motivation for pushing CSR becomes clear. The Code states in its legal disclaimer that: "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."

A listing of Controversial Projects:

United States Here the Western Shoshone are fighting Barrick's expansion into sacred lands, with a coordinated community organizing and legal strategy. In New Mexico, communities battle 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 has tied up and cast grave 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 blockadees, people have mobilized in Chile and Argentina to oppose the Pascua Lama/Valedero project. 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. Meanwhile, 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 Peruvians protest Barrick in the Ancash region year after year with a regional 48 hour strike, supported by local politicians. The region is divided by Barrick's activities here and for the last two years, protesters have died in confrontations with the police during the strike. Meanwhile, Barrick has reportedly employed many of these police.

Tanzania Tanzania's Bulyanhulu and North Mara mines were built upon deaths, displacement and human rights abuses. While many of these claims have been disputed by the World Bank ombudsperson and Barrick Gold, there is video evidence and many testimonies that confirm that an estimated 30,000-250,000 people were displaced to make way for this project. While this happened while these mines were owned by other Canadian Mine Corporations, there have been recent alleged deaths by the hands of Barrick security guards. Most recently, Barrick fired 1,300 strikers at their Bulyanhulu mine after negotiations with Barrick management broke down over salaries, working conditions, medical care and other contentious issues.

Philippines In the Spring of 2006, when Barrick Gold took over Placer Dome, Inc. it inherited a law suit initiated by provincial authorities on the Philippine island of Marinduque, where 27 years of irresponsible mining by Placer Dome (1969-1996) had 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 underground mine fires that are rife with environmental violations.

Tax issues: 

Accusations of high-level nepotism have since plagued Barrick's Bulyanhulu operations, with allegations of millions in tax evasion surfacing last year. Additionally, just this July, the Tanzanian government was criticized for signing a mining agreement with Barrick prematurely, and selling it’s 15 percent stake in the Bulyanhulu mine for too little.

Labor: 

At Barrick's Bulyanhulu mine in Tanzania, the company fired about 1,000 striking workers, after negotiations with Barrick management brokedown 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 the landscapes that is destroys, gold mining (especially open pit gold mining) creates massive amounts of toxic waste that often causes 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 taken 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. At its Pascua Lama mine, Barrick is disturbing 10.2 acres of three glaciers, and has called for tunnels to be dug underneath them. 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.

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 to the Indigenous Rights at the core of most of Barrick's projects (U.S., Australia, Chile, and PNG), Barrick's mine security has been accused of human rights abuses at Barrick's mines in Tanzania and Papua New Guinea.

Political influence: 

Here is a list of Controversial Characters associated with Barrick:

Brian Mulroney: A former Prime Minister of Canada, Mulroney is well known for negotiating NAFTA, guaranteeing vast quantities of Canada's energy resources to the United States under the guise of Free Trade. (he has also recently been implicated in a corruption scandal for receiving $100,000 from a corporation for which he sat on the board... I can bet you a sentence on this (and a source) if you like.)

George Bush Sr. (past senior advisor): George Bush was on board around the time that Barrick got a Nevada mine (on Western Shoshone traditional land) containing $10 billion in gold by paying the US Treasury less than $10,000. 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.

Gustavo Cisneros: The media mogul of Venezuela, Cisneros hit the international spotlight for his alleged role in the failed coup to oust Hugo Chavez.

  • Khashoggi is a well known Saudi arms dealer who was a conduit in the Iran-Contra Scandal, or the deal by which the U.S. used profits from arms sales to Iran to fund the Contras in Nicaragua against the Left-wing Sandinista government.

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

Accusations of high-level nepotism have since plagued the Bulyanhulu operations, with allegations of millions in tax evasion surfacing last year. Additionally, just this July, the Tanzanian government was criticized for signing a mining agreement with Barrick prematurely, and selling it’s 15 percent stake in the Bulyanhulu mine for too little.

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