Barrick Gold
 | The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
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| Company type | Public TSX: ABX NYSE: ABX |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mining |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Founder | Peter Munk |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Peter Munk, Founder & Chairman Gregory Wilkins, President & CEO Peter J. Kinver, COO Jamie C. Sokalsky, CFO |
| Products | Gold Silver Copper |
| Revenue | $5,636 million (2006) |
| $1,506 million (2006) | |
| Divisions | Africa Australia-Pacific North America South America |
| Website | www.barrick.com |
Barrick Gold Corporation TSX: ABX NYSE: ABX 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. For 2006, it produced 8.64 million troy ounces of gold at a cash cost of US $282/ounce. As of December 31, 2004 its proven and probable gold mineral reserves stand at 123 million troy ounces.
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.
Criticisms
Barrick Gold has been accused of a number of environmentally unsound practices, as well as illegal trading activities. These include the proposed use of cyanide leach tailing dams for its gold mine project at Lake Cowal, and the alleged release of approximately seven tons of mercury during 2004-2005 at the Super Pit gold mine (a 50/50 joint venture with Newmont Mining Corporation) near the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia.
Barrick has also been sued by Blanchard and Co. of New Orleans for allegedly manipulating the price of gold in an anti-competitive way. The case was settled out of court on November 18, 2005 with no payment of damages by Barrick. Barrick had counter-sued Blanchard for libel. This case also settled out of court, with damages payed by Blanchard to Barrick. In settlement, Blanchard issued the following statement "We regret having made the statements that gave rise to the libel action filed by Barrick in Canada and any embarrassment those statements may have caused Barrick or its officers or directors."
On-going litigation against Barrick
UNITED STATES Wilcox Complaint
On September 8, 2004, current or former residents of a rural area near the former Grants Uranium Mill filed a complaint against two Barrick subsidiaries: Homestake Mining Company of California and Homestake Mining Company. The 26 plaintiffs allege that they have suffered a “variety of physical, emotional, and financial injuries” as a result of exposure to radioactive and other hazardous substances. The complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico seeks an unspecified amount of damages. One year later, results of groundwater sampling by the Grants Uranium Mine tested by the New Mexico Environment Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show contaminants in 33 of 34 residential wells sampled, including elevated levels of uranium in 21 wells.
Western Shoshone
Mt. Tenabo and Horse Canyon are extremely important spiritual and cultural sites for the Western Shoshone indigenous peoples in Nevada. Nonetheless, Cortez Gold Mine, of which Barrick Gold is a majority owner, is expanding mining expansion in this area. The Western Shoshone and supporter organizations have fought against mining for several decades, first opposing Oro Nevada, then Placer Dome, and now Barrick Gold. In 2005 after numerous cultural resource studies, shareholder actions, and administrative proceedings, the Te-Moak Tribe, the Western Shoshone Defense Project, and Great Basin Mine Watch filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Then majority owner, Placer Dome, filed a motion to intervene, claiming interest in the area and charging that the Western Shoshone did not have significant interest to proceed in the litigation. Barrick Gold has not retreated from the position of its predecessor and is now a party to the lawsuit.
On April 16, 2007, the United States federal court in Reno heard arguments in a case against the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of Cortez Gold Mines’ gold mining exploration proposal on and around Mt. Tenabo and Horse Canyon, in a room filled with tribe supporters. The defendants are the BLM and Cortez Gold Mines, Inc.
The plaintiffs’ case rests on three main issues: 1) BLM violated the National Historic Preservation Act when it failed to adequately consult with the Western Shoshone on the mining exploration project. BLM also failed to adequately protect Western Shoshone cultural and religious uses of and resources in these areas; 2) BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it failed to review the impacts of the massive Pediment/Cortez Hills mine project that Cortez Gold Mines has proposed in the same area; and 3) BLM violated the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (and also NEPA) when it approved the mining exploration without knowing the actual location of roads, drill sites, etc.; it also failed to adequately protect Western Shoshone heritage resources.
SOUTH AMERICA Chilean Rodolfo Villar sues over Pascua Lama properties
When Rodolfo Villar sold 20,000 acres (80 km²) to Barrick Gold for its Pascua Lama gold mining project, the mineral speculator signed a contract that he thought would pay him $1 million. Instead, the contract gave him only $19, and a fine-print stipulation that if he tried to obtain rights to any other lands in the surrounding area, he would face a $95,000 fine.“
Aided by legal team of 30, including some of Chile’s most prominent lawyers, Villar sued Barrick and won. Rather than getting the million dollars, he got his land back and is now asking $300 million for it. “Literally, we are sitting on a gold mine,” remarked one of his lawyers to the Washington Post. Barrick is appealing the case.
Villaverde family of Argentina is perusing similar litigation: The family has land claims to an area of a proposed mine, but refuses to sell cheap.
Chilean traditional owners, the Huascoaltinos, sue over land claims
An ancestral indigenous group from northern Chile is accusing Barrick of illegally acquiring land near the mining company’s proposed Pascua Lama project. The Diaguita indigenous communities say that historical documents prove that the disputed land is part of their ancestral territory. They filed a lawsuit against the company in 2001, charging that the single group member who signed the contract was not legally entitled to make the deal. Additionally, on July 25, 2005, the Chilean Consumers’ Organization filed a complaint with the Organization of American States (OAS). It alleges that the Pascua Lama project poses a grave risk to the subsistence rights of the Diaguita indigenous communities in the area, and that the Chilean government would be breaking its international commitments if it approves the project. Specifically, the United Nations’ International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights commit the Chilean government to giving “special protection” to Diaguitas water rights.
PHILIPPINES The Province of Marinduque v. Barrick Gold Corp.
When the US District Court of Nevada granted the motion of the provincial government to include Barrick Gold Corp. as a defendant in the lawsuit against Placer Dome, the people of this island province of Marinduque expressed much relief. Some 17 months earlier, on October 4, 2005, the province had filled a case against Placer Dome, subsequently bought out by Barrick Gold early in 2006. Now Marinduquenos may have the opportunity to seek legal justice for the extensive environmental and social damages of nearly 30 years of irresponsible copper mining on their small island. Marinduque suffered what is regarded by many as the Philippines’ largest industrial disaster, the Marcopper mining incident, polluting the Makulapnit and Boac rivers and the Calancan Bay, while poisoning residents. The fishermen of the Calancan Bay in Mariduque have filed a separate suit, claiming $900 million in damages.
NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA Wiradjuri Native Title Rights
Since 2001, Wiradjuri Traditional Owners, represented by Neville “Chappy” Williams, have waged a protracted and bitter legal battle in the Federal and NSW Land and Environment Courts. These Court challenges have focused on the validity of consents issued by the NSW Government permitting Barrick to destroy all cultural heritage sites at Lake Cowal, and on the protection of Wiradjuri Native Title rights.
These challenges have been partially successful. Injunctions have delayed final approvals for the mine and lead to a complete overhaul of how consents to destroy Aboriginal cultural heritage are issued. In 2005, however, the NSW Government passed specific amendments to its planning legislation to prevent the original mine approvals from lapsing, thus thwarting the Land and Environment Court challenges.
The Mooka and Kalara United Families within the Wiradjuri Nation, who are opposed to mining on their sacred lands, have a Native Title claim in the Federal Court. In response to this claim, Barrick and the NSW Government supported the establishment of a group called the “Wiradjuri Condobolin Native Title Claim Group” made up of five unauthorized Wiradjuri people belonging to the Wiradjuri Council of Elders. This group later changed the name on its Native Title claim to “Wiradjuri People”, then withdrew its claim after signing a confidential agreement with Barrick and the NSW Government to allow mining to go ahead at Lake Cowal for an undisclosed financial benefit. The group claims to have bound the entire Wiradjuri nation of more than 30,000 people to this agreement, which still remains confidential.
The Mooka/Kalara United Families’ claim group now includes between 3,000 and 4,000 Wiradjuri people. Directions to finalise a hearing and take evidence are about to be set down in the Mooka/Kalara claim. The matter is a precedent in which mining has gone ahead while a Native Title claim over the land in question has yet to be determined. The consequence of this is, that if successful, Traditional Owners may be in a position to sue Barrick and the NSW Government for tens of millions of dollars--enough to make the Lake Cowal Gold Project unviable.
Environmental Record
While accusations of environmental malpractise have been and continue to be directed at Barrick, the company maintains that its record speaks for itself. Barrick operates the Henty Gold Mine in Tasmania, which is located inside a Recommended Area for Protection (RAP), immediately adjacent to a World Heritage Area. In over ten years of operation, the Henty Gold Mine has never exceeded the discharge or operating parameters of its operating license, and is kept under close scrutiny by legislative and governing bodies. Many innovative and pioneering methods of preventing discharges into the environment have been emplaced at Henty, in particular a High Density Paste Fill (HDPF) plant, which returns waste rock and tailings generated by the mine back into the underground voids, the INCO cyanide destruction process, a geo-membrane encapsulating the pipeline to the tailings storage facility and a wetlands water management system which removes silt, fines and trace heavy metals from non-process water prior to discharge from the site. The water quality at the discharge point from the wetlands system is of a higher quality than the river it discharges into, and a family of platypus monotremes have made the wetlands water treatment system their home for the last eight years.
Barrick also operates the Porgera Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea. Porgera was acquired by Barrick in January 2006 when it succeeded in taking over Placer Dome. The Porgera operation dumps cyanide-laced waste water into the local river stream which flows throughout the country and eventually ends up in the sea. The open pit mining method used since the early 1990's consists of blasting the hills and using cyanide and other toxins to extract the gold. As the hills are destroyed, the erosion caused villagers homes to sink into the ground. [1] The current method of riverine tailing waste disposal used by Barrick Gold is the subject of an outstanding lawsuit. The company plans to defend their use of riverine tailing waste disposal.[2]
Barrick has committed to a multi-million dollar project to pioneer a method whereby tailings products and erodible waste can be encapsulated within the coarser waste rock stockpiles. This method will ensure that the water quality of the local river systems is not compromised, without the construction of a 'normal' tailings dam, which in the rugged topography of the Porgera valley would be prone to eventual failure.
notes
Pascua Lama
Pascua Lama is a mining project at a large and complex poly-metallic orebody in the high mountains south of Atacama on the border between Chile and Argentina. Its main product will be gold.
Barrick Gold is investing US$1.5 billion in this project, which has a planned lifetime of at least 20 years. Barrick intends to commence construction on September 2006 with extraction operations beginning in 2009.[citation needed] The Chilean government and local stakeholders are yet to provide final approvals.
The ore body lies partially under two small glaciers (or more correctly, glaciettes) which eventually feed into the rivers of the Huasco Province. Access to the ore body will require relocation of some of this ice to permit ore extraction, with accompanying waste rock and low grade ore stockpiles. Barrick Gold maintains that 5 hectares of "ice reserves" will be relocated by their operations and that another 10 hectares will melt as a consequence.
Extensive water management infrastructure is incorporated into the mine design to mitigate the effects of surface and sub-surface water migration across the operation.
Low levels of residual ore processing waste products, such as sodium cyanide and sulphuric acid will be treated and neutralised on site, then discharged into the local water systems, providing the residual levels meet the legislative requirements of the Chilean governing bodies.[citation needed] A strict regime of monitoring is included in the operating license.
NovaGold and Pioneer plays
On July 24, 2006, Barrick announced their intent to purchase NovaGold Resources and Pioneer Metals. The unsolicited bid for NovaGold Resources was at US $1.29 billion or US $14.50 per share, and the solicited bid for Pioneer Metals was at US $53 million or US $.88 per share. NovaGold management quickly characterized Barrick's bid for their company as undervalued. Pioneer management however quickly endorsed Barrick's bid for their company. Previously on June 19, 2006, NovaGold made an unsolicited bid for Pioneer Metals at US $31 million. NovaGold and Pioneer are currently in litigation over the Grace project in British Columbia, Canada. That project is adjacent to NovaGold's Galore Creek project and 75 kilometers away from Barrick's Eskay Creek mine. NovaGold and Barrick also cross paths at the Donlin Creek project in Alaska where NovaGold is 70% owner and Barrick is 30% owner, however Barrick has the right to earn in a 70% share as a result of their takeover of Place Dome in January of 2006.
On August 14, 2006, NovaGold filed a lawsuit in British Columbia, Canada alleging that Barrick misused confidential information to make its bid for Pioneer metals. [3] As part of the suit, NovaGold is asking that any shares tendered to Barrick under the Pioneer bid be held in a trust for NovaGold. On August 25, 2006, NovaGold filed a second lawsuit against Barrick [4] - this time in the District of Alaska court alleging that Barrick violated U.S. security laws by misrepresenting its position by repeatedly stating it is on-track to earn a 70% interest in the Donlin Creek mine. The suit seeks a temporary suspension of Barrick's hostile bid for NovaGold.
On December 16, 2006, after extending the bid for NovaGold 6 times, increasing the offer once, and lowering the threshold for takeup of tendered shares from 75% to 50%, and then to no minimum, Barrick finally let the bid expire [5]. The net result for Barrick was a takeup of 12.7% of the outstanding NovaGold shares. Barrick's Chief Executive Greg Wilkins indicated that the company would look elsewhere for acquisition opportunities.
See also
External links
- Official company website
- Barrick Gold profile on Infomine.com
- Articles on Pascua Lama on company website
- Barrick Gold In The News on rainforestinfo.org.au
- Barrick Gold In German News articles on Journalismus-Nachrichten von Heute
- ProtestBarrick.net
- CorpWatch