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" |
| Lake Cowal Gathering 2009 Join Wiradjuri and their supporters over the easter weekend, Friday 10 - Sunday 12 April. |
| Students abandon school for gold, prostitution in Tarime by Damas Mwita, This Day The future of many students in Tarime remains bleak as they continue to drop out of school due to various reasons such as early marriages, pregnancy and gold mining. |
| Analysis: Argentine glacier protection bill could shut mines by Luis Andres Henao, Reuters An Argentine bill to protect glaciers by banning mining in ice zones could hinder a new multibillion-dollar gold mine, shutter some projects and slow investment, although some mining provinces seeking to circumvent the measure are passing their own laws. |
| Barrick Gold confirms deaths of 2 miners in Nevada mine shaft by Martin Griffith, Associated Press Searchers in Nevada found the remains of two miners at the bottom of a gold mine shaft, company officials said Saturday, after crews worked for more than 32 hours to safely access the area 1,300 feet underground. |
| Argentine lower house passes glacier bill by Luis Andres Henao, Reuters Africa Argentine lawmakers on Wednesday approved a glacier-protection bill that would ban mining and oil drilling in the country's Andean ice fields. |
| Testimony before Canadian Parliament re Barrick & Porgera JV (Papua New Guinea) Business and Human Rights Resource Centre In October & November 2009, the Canadian House of Commons' Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs & Intl. Development held hearings on "Bill C-300, An Act respecting Corporate Accountability". The following statements were made regarding issues including allegations of killings, rape & other security problems involving personnel at the Porgera Joint Venture in Papua New Guinea, as well as the Porgera mine's environmental impacts. (Barrick Gold holds a large majority stake of the Porgera Joint Venture.) |
| DECLARATION OF BINATIONAL MEETING CHILE AND ARGENTINA:"LOS ANDES MINING WITHOUT BORDER"
July 15th, 2010 |
| Espejitos por oro / Mirrors for gold A video by a young activist film maker from the Dominican Republic, Jose Maria Cabral, highlighting the concerns of Dominica peoples about Barrick Gold's operations on their lands. [The video is in spanish only] |
 | Deputies demand investigations over Barrick-government ties, Argentina National Deputies Elisa Carrió, Miguel Bonasso and Fernanda Reyes demanded an investigations over possible traffic of influence in favour of Barrick Gold, and direct economic links between the gold miner and San Juan province Governor José Luis Gioja. |
| Deputies demand investigations over Barrick-government ties, Argentina National Deputies Elisa Carrió, Miguel Bonasso and Fernanda Reyes demanded an investigation over possible traffic of influence in favour of Barrick Gold, and direct economic links between the gold miner and San Juan province Governor José Luis Gioja. |
| Acusan a Cristina por “tráfico de influencias” en favor de una minera
by Juan Cruz Sanz , Clarin.com ESPANOL: Siete días antes de la fecha prevista para que la Cámara baja vuelva a tratar la ley de proteción de glaciares que Cristina vetó en el 2008, tres diputados opositores presentaron ayer a la Justicia una denuncia para que se investigue el posible “tráfico de influencias” de la Presidenta para favorecer inversiones de la minera canadiense Barrick Gold en la frontera sanjuanina con Chile. |
| A la Justicia por Pascua Lama
by Federico Poore, Pagina 12 ESPANOL: Diputados opositores pidieron ayer a la Justicia que investigara posibles vínculos entre funcionarios y la empresa minera Barrick Gold. Los legisladores Miguel Bonasso (Diálogo por Buenos Aires), Elisa Carrió y Fernanda Reyes (Coalición Cívica) presentaron nuevas pruebas para ampliar la investigación que lleva adelante el juez Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi y reclamaron al Gobierno que diera a conocer el acuerdo tributario que firmó con la compañía canadiense. La empresa aseguró en un comunicado que sus actividades “se de-sarrollan en el más estricto apego a la legislación vigente”. |
| Denuncian lazos de Mayoral con la minera canadiense Barrick by Leonardo Nicosia, Perfil Mientras el Congreso se prepara para debatir otra vez una ley de protección de glaciares, la oposición solicitó esta semana a la ESPANOL: Justicia que investigue las ventajas impositivas extraordinarias que el Estado le habría otorgado a la Barrick Gold en el proyecto Pascua-Lama, en San Juan. Los diputados Elisa Carrió, Fernanda Reyes (CC)y Miguel Bonasso (DpBA) denunciaron, además, que existen llamativos vínculos entre la companía y el secretario de Minería, Jorge Mayoral. |
| San Juan province governor accused of 'economic ties' with Barrick Gold Buenos Aires Herald Deputies Elisa Carrió and Miguel Bonasso filed a complaint against San Juan province Governor José Luis Gioja and Barrick Gold mining company for alleged "economic links" between the two. They also accused President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of vetoeing the Glaciers Law in order to favour the company. |
| Mining Through Roots: Displacement, Poverty and the Global Extractive Industry by Sakura Saunders, editor protestbarrick.net July 3rd, 2010 In Papua New Guinea, approximately 5000 adults** live within the Special Mining Lease area of Barrick Gold's Porgera mine. They are desperately seeking resettlement into another area that could provide them with the means to live the subsistence lifestyle that remains the livelihood of 75% of the country. Their requests have been denied by the company, which prefers to offer individual cash payments to villagers as their homes fall victim to waste-related landslides and police-instigated arson. |
| Breaches of Freedom of Association Rife at AngloGold, Barrick Gold Mines in Tanzania ICEM in Brief The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions workshops in Tanzania on 12-13 March reveal blatant abuses of freedom of association by subsidiary mining enterprises of AngloGold Ashanti and Barrick Gold. The workshops were done specifically for ICEM affiliate Tanzania Association of Mining and Construction Workers’ Union (TAMICO), under the auspices of ICEM’s Sub-Saharan African Regional Organisation (SSARO), with ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and ICEM/SSARO staff person Fabian Nkomo leading the important sessions. |
| Official probe another setback for Barrick Gold’s Dominican mine Dominican Today The Labor Ministry launched an investigation today Friday to determine if the mining company Barrick Gold and its 34 subsidiaries are respecting their workers’ rights. |
| Papua New Guinea Government Passes Law to Protect Industries from Indigenous Law Suits Cultural Survival The Papua New Guinea legislature on May 28 amended sections of the country's Environment and Conservation Act to shield corporations from any responsibility for environmental damage caused by their operations, whether intentional or accidental. |
| Barrick Supported Police Who Carried Out Fiery Evictions in PNG by Valerie Croft, The Dominion Amnesty report confirms links between cops & Canadian mining company - Amnesty International (AI) recently made waves in human rights circles, publishing a new report focusing on Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold's role in violent forced evictions in the Porgera region of Papua New Guinea (PNG). |
 | Underground Diplomacy
by Sakura Saunders, editor protestbarrick.net, Dominion Paper June 2nd, 2010 An ongoing independence struggle has been overlooked by Canadian and US delegates as they push the Pakistani state to force Balochistan’s approval of the Barrick/Antofagasta mine. Meanwhile, in a move that the group American Friends of Balochistan say reveals insensitivity to the region’s politics, Barrick hired a Pakistani army colonel as its public affairs manager and head of security for its Balochistan mine project. Disregard for political conflict reveals an international diplomacy concerned primarily with profits, and is consistent with the actions of Canada and its corporate ambassadors in situations around the globe where mining profits conflict with human rights. |