Regulation/ Legal Issues |
Canada, where Barrick is based, is home to 60 percent of the world’s mining corporations, which run operations across the globe. Despite being a leader in this industry, Canada has not taken the lead on mediating or taking responsibility for the behavior of their corporations abroad. As a consequence of this negligence, Canada has drawn criticism from around the world, first by environmental, religious and human rights organizations, and now increasingly from international institutions, such as the United Nations. Even the Canadian government has started to recognize the harsh reality accompanying the presence of their mining industry abroad, which is characterized by environmental destruction, political corruption, community struggles, human rights abuses, and massive amounts of water consumption. 2006 marked the year of the first National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Industry in Developing Countries, a forum that was organized in reaction to a 2005 Report from Canada’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade (SCFAIT). The standing committee’s report admitted that Canada does have not laws ensuring that Canadian mining companies “conform to human rights standards, including the rights of workers and indigenous peoples.” But, despite overwhelming evidence that the self-regulation and voluntary measures adopted by mining companies are not sufficient to guarantee these rights, a binding legal framework to ensure these rights has yet to be pursued by the Canadian Government. Read SCFAIT report "Mining
in Developing Countries and Corporate Social Responsibility" |
 | RoyalOr Stakes a Claim on Mont-Royal May 15th, 2009 RoyalOr is composed of members of various communities around the world confronting projects developed by Canadian mining companies — including Barrick Gold, Goldcorp, New Gold, and Osisko. Affected community representatives came to Montreal from the Valle de Siria, Honduras; Valle de Huasco, Chile; Porgera, Papua New Guinea; San Luis Potosi, Mexico; and Malartic, Quebec. |
| Lake Cowal Gathering 2009 Join Wiradjuri and their supporters over the easter weekend, Friday 10 - Sunday 12 April. |
| Porgera Special Mining Lease (SML) Landowners Association Statement on Amnesty International Report PLOA takes the first opportunity to welcome the Amnesty International (AI) report that tells the truth about police violence and forced evictions occurred during a Papua New Guinea police deployment in what has been purported to restore law and order in Porgera Enga Province Papua New Guinea between April and June 2009. |
| Chile starts environmental probe into Pascua-Lama by Reporting by Fabian Cambero and Alonso Soto; editing by Jim Marshall, Rueters January 21st, 2010 Chilean environmental authorities said on Thursday it began a probe into the construction of top gold miner Barrick's massive Pascua-Lama project, which could lead to fines or even a revoked concession. |
 | Canada's Long Road to Mining Reform by Cyril Mychalejko, editor, Upside Down world, writing for Toward Freedom January 21st, 2010 Rape. Murder. Corruption. Environmental contamination. Impunity. These are just some of the charges and incidents that have plagued Canadian mining operations abroad for years. Now one Canadian lawmaker has taken on the Herculean challenge of legislating mining reform in a country that has traditionally acted like a parent in denial. |
 | Once Upon a Water Source by Jessie Boylan, http://jessieboylan.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/once-upon-a-water-source/ Freelance photojournalist, Jessie Boylan visits community impacted by Barrick Gold’s North Mara Mine in Tanzania after their land and lives were dramatically impacted by toxic contamination from a leakage at the mine site in May 2009. |
| Ban Barrick: Organizations demand to stop construction of Pascua Lama Radio Mundo Feminist, religious and environmental organizations in Chile issued a declaration on the extractive project Pascua Lama, carried out by Canadian mining transnational corporation Barrick Gold in Huasco province, Chile and San Juan province, Argentina. |
 | Raisani says no mining licence granted for Reko Dik project by Staff Correspondent , DAWN January 9th, 2010 A foreign company was granted a licence to explore copper and gold in the Reko Dik area but it was not allowed to mine the same, according to Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani. |
| Government Study: Chilean Gold Mine Threatens Local Glaciers by James Fowler, LA TERCERA, LA NACION via Santiago Times Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold, the owner of what would be Chile’s largest gold mine, Pascua Lama, could face legal sanctions after Chile’s national water commission (DGA) reported that the company is failing to comply with Chile’s environmental laws. |
 | US court blocks huge gold mine project in Nevada by SCOTT SONNER , Sacramento Bee/ Associated Press December 3rd, 2009 A federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily blocked construction of a massive gold mine project in northeast Nevada that critics say would harm the environment and ruin a mountain that several tribes consider sacred. In a rare legal setback for the mining industry in the nation's largest gold-producing state, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted an injunction to force Barrick Gold Corp. to postpone digging a 2,000-foot deep open pit at the Cortez Hills mine. |
| Miner accused of 'aggressive' tactics by Les Whittington and Brett Popplewell, Toronto Star November 25th, 2009 Testifying by video hookup at hearings of the House of Commons foreign affairs committee, Romina Picolotti singled out Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. as one of the multinationals that used political and economic clout to block government intervention in the firm's mining ventures in Argentina. |
| MPs told of gang rapes at mine by Les Whittington, Toronto Star November 24th, 2009 A usually sedate parliamentary hearing room was jolted with stories of alleged gang rape as MPs heard testimony about the operation of a Canadian-controlled gold mine in the South Pacific. |
| Canadian mining firms face abuse allegations by Brett Popplewell, The Toronto Star November 22nd, 2009 Canadian mining companies are facing allegations of abuse and assault on local citizens in dozens of developing nations. The companies say they have done nothing wrong – mining copper, gold and other metals brings only prosperity to these poor regions. Yet locals in countries like Ecuador allege some companies have used armed guards to violently trample their opposition to mines that threaten rainforests and their way of life. |
| Firm sues Government on mining contracts by Bernard James , The Citizen (Tanzania) November 11th, 2009 A constitutional petition has been filed in the High Court, seeking to have all the mining contracts entered into by the government without Parliament's approval declared null and avoid, in an effort to curb the plunder of the country's natural resources. |
| Bunge braces for North Mara acid spillage report by ORTON KIISHWEKO, Daily News (Tanzania) November 2nd, 2009 MORE details on the findings of a study on possible water contamination due to acid seepage from the North Mara Gold Mine will be known when the final report on the matter is presented in Parliament in Dodoma next week. |
| Digging for Gold, Mining Corruption by John Lasker, Canadian Dimension October 29th, 2009 One of Africa’s Poorest and Most Embattled Countries is Prey to Canadian Mining Companies Searching for the Last Great Gold mine. |
 | Illegal transit of trucks to Pascua Lama: by Huasco Valley communities and organizations that defend life and water October 28th, 2009 The undersigned organizations denounce new abuses of the mining company Barrick Gold against Huasco Valley community, abuse involving breach of the law but are made in collusion with police and other state institutions. |
| Sarah Knuckey (Lawyer, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University School of Law) before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (FAAE) by Sarah Knuckey (Lawyer, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University School of Law), Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (FAAE) Since 2006 Ms. Knuckey has traveled to Papua New Guinea, or PNG, three times, and I twice, to investigate personally the impact of the Porgera Joint Venture, or PJV, mine, majority-owned and operated by Canadian mining interests since its inception. Today we speak about security and human rights at the PJV mine and discuss why Bill C-300 is particularly important when independent investigations have failed to materialize despite consistent allegations of abuse. |
| Mr. Tyler Giannini (Harvard Law School) before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (FAAE) by Mr. Tyler Giannini (Lecturer on Law, International Human Rights Clinic, Harvard Law School), Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (FAAE) October 20th, 2009 Since 2006 Ms. Knuckey has traveled to Papua New Guinea, or PNG, three times, and I twice, to investigate personally the impact of the Porgera Joint Venture, or PJV, mine, majority-owned and operated by Canadian mining interests since its inception. Today we speak about security and human rights at the PJV mine and discuss why Bill C-300 is particularly important when independent investigations have failed to materialize despite consistent allegations of abuse. |
 | CIDA's Anti-oversight Agenda by Sakura Saunders, editor, ProtestBarrick.net October 15th, 2009 |