Programme for Social Surveillance of Multinational Mining Companies.

Report No 1
by the Citizen Participation Forum for Justice and Human Rights,
www.foco.org.ar - Clarisa Fernandez

Investigative report on the actions of the Barrick Gold Corporation in Chile, Peru, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Australia and the Democratic Republic of Congo

Company credits in Argentina:

4. Barrick Gold Corporation
Country of Origin: Canada
Presence in Argentina: San Juan
Composition of Capital: shareholder company
Level of Investment: 547 million dollars invested in the Veladero mining project and 400 million dollars invested in Pascua Lama
Jobs created: 838 direct jobs and 192 through local contractors
Working conditions: at least six fatal accidents reported among the workers in Veladero, working days lasting 12-14 hours, cases of serious injuries and abuse, all in spite of the fact that the company, according to its own reports, provides health and security programmes for its employees.

1. Chile:
Mass protests against the arrival of Pascua Lama in the mountain range frontier

Barrick Gold is one of the most significant multinational companies in the world and is famous for its mining agreements in North America, Australia and Africa. One of its mineral extraction projects, located in the Andean border with Argentina, plans to extract approximately 500,000 kilos of gold, silver, copper and mercury from the Huasco valley over the next 20 years. To facilitate the extraction process, the company must move a large section of the enormous glaciers named Toro 1, Toro 2 and Esperanza, which make up 816,000 square metres of arctic ice. The mechanical action necessary to move the glaciers will result in the melting of a large section of the ice, putting the ecological equilibrium of the region at risk. The launch of Pascua Lama will bring a significant threat to one of the most fertile agricultural valleys in the Coquimbo region, which is already suffering the serious effects of the continuing desertification of the whole territory.

The glaciers are a vital water source for the Huasco community, which has a population of 70,000 people, most of whom are farming families. Any movement of the ice will bring irreversible damage to the sustainability of the environment of that region.

In February of this year, the regional branch for the National Commission for the Environment (CONAMA) passed the Pascua Lama project, on one hand on the condition that the glaciers are not destroyed, on the other, disregarding other environmental aspects directly related to the mining activity. Just like in its many other gold extraction operations, Barrick Gold will use cyanide for processing the metal. Cyanide is a chemical substance which, even in small quantities, becomes extremely toxic to humans and other living beings. Filtration or leakage can quickly cause massive problems for the entire ecosystem, also freeing other heavy metals of high strength and toxicity. The chemicals used in the mine, like cyanide and mercury, will inevitably cause damage to the local ecosystem, contaminating the Huasco River and the underground reservoirs.

During the initial construction of the project, at least 15 deaths among the workers of Pascua Lama were reported. The Chilean farmers and inhabitants of the Huayco valley, along with the environmental group, Defence of the Valley, organised a demonstration against the project in which 200 rural workers, community leaders and neighbours of the town met on the 9th of July 2006 to march in protest. The opposition groups have indicated that they will seek a legal revision of the CONAMA venture. The project also needs the green light from the Argentinean government to be able to begin. The activists assure that they will continue their opposition to the project and to other activities that put the indigenous rights and the delicate environment of the whole region at risk.

2: Peru
Death and police violence in the mines in Pierinas de Sechta

Thousands of rural workers from the 18 communities of the Sechta mountain range marched together on the 6th of May 2006, demanding justice and an investigation into the murders of two men at a confrontation between the police and members of the community just the day before. Twenty people were injured as a result of the violence when hundreds of workers of the Barrick Gold mine, situated in the mountains of the Cordillera Negra (Black Mountain Range) of Huaraz, met in Huallapampa to demand a pay increase. When their request was rejected by the officials of the corporation, the workers decided to block the access routes to the mines, a measure which was countered with tear-gas bombs thrown from a police patrol directly commissioned by the company.

A team of 30 police officers are employed as a security force by the mining company which in this case was forced to suspend operations until security had been restored. A little later the negotiations restarted with the members of the Cucasaca, Antauran, Mataquita, Atupa, Maraniyoc and Pacollon communities from the Jancas district, in the province of Huaraz, in order to obtain the freedom of six police officials who were detained by members of the community during the violent confrontations. The workers decided to initiate a strike that would last until the salary requirements had been reached.

The conflict between the workers and the foreign company originates in accusations that Barrick is discovering and exploiting valuable minerals such as gold, silver, mercury, and copper without paying the respective fiscal taxes. With the support of the high authorities in the Peruvian government only the minimum percentage of the corporation's enormous profits is invested in the region, which does not equal the immense loss of natural resources or the irreversible consequences of the pollution which has caused serious illnesses among the population.

3. Tanzania:
Arbitrary executions and violent evictions of 400,000 members of the mining community in Bulyanhulu

In August 1996, the Tanzanian government, along with the Canadian company Kahama Mining Corporation, forcefully evicted hundreds of thousands of artisan miners, peasants, small-scale traders and their families in Bulyanhulu, a settlement in the Shingyanga region in the east of Tanzania. The evictions marked the culmination of fighting lasting two years over the control of the gold deposits in this area. Reports that 65 miners were buried alive in the extraction mines arose when the authorities and the officials of the company decided to refill them to prevent the workers from returning there. In March 1999 Barrick Gold acquired the Bulyanhulu deposits from Sutton Resources and its subsidiary company Kahama Mining Ltd.

Reports of the murders which occurred in 1996 have persisted until today and have become an international dispute between the Bulyanhulu communities, local and international NGOs, the World Bank and the governments of Tanzania, Canada, the United States and Eastern Europe. Many are demanding that the government allow an independent international investigation. It is estimated that 400,000 people have been evicted from their lands with receiving any compensation for the destruction caused. The local government and Barrick Gold vigorously deny the accusations of deaths and injuries caused in connection with the evictions.

LEAT represents a group of miners who, in 1996, were forcefully evicted from their mines by the police. The evictions were carried out despite the order issued by the Tanzanian Supreme Court restricting the government and Kahama Mining Ltd from proceeding with any action that would pave the way to developing Bulyanhulu. Without the appropriate licence or any previous notification to the miners, the government and the business took control of a property which had originally been legally designated as a concession area for small-scale mining.

During the 1980's the Tanzanian government strongly supported small-scale mining. The increase in smuggling, due to the lack of extraction licences or mining rights in the whole area, meant that the government, with the help of the World Bank, had to officially start buying all of the gold which was being extracted from the mines. From February 1993 the artisan miners were granted permits to explore on the condition that everything would be handed over to the State. In October 1993 the miners requested the extraction and mining rights. When they had still not received any answer by October 1994, they again insisted that they be granted the rights on learning that they had been granted to Canada's Sutton Resources, whose subsidiary company, Kahama Mining Ltd, had arrived in the country in August of that year. From that time on the miners tried everything possible to save their living, highlighting the value of their contribution to the national economy since 1990, their strong investment in their workforce and equipment, their cooperation with the government, the number of people who depend on the mining activity and their willingness to share Bulyanhulu with the company, whose exploration work could continue at the same time as the craft miners extracted minerals in this area.

The company and the government had already taken the decision to take exclusive control of Bulyanhulu. So, in May 1995 the minister of Water, Energy and Minerals called the miners trespassers, which encouraged the company to intensify its campaign against the miners, bringing a lawsuit against them before the Tabora Supreme Court on the 20th of June 1995, claiming that they were illegal and trespassing and that they deserved to be evicted. The miners counterattacked, presenting a legal defence and counter plea, claiming that they had legally possessed Bulyanhulu since 1975 and demanded compensation if the land and mines were taken by Kahama. On the 29th of September 1995 the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the miners and on the 9th of October Kahama appealed the decision. However, suspecting that the courts would not sympathise with their claims, they retracted their appeal in May 1996. However, two months later extrajudicial methods were implemented to evict the miners from the Bulyanhulu lands. On the 30th of July 1996 the minister of Water, Energy and Minerals organised a press conference to inform the miners that they had one month to leave the area. In the midst of the panic and civil disorder caused by this measure, the miners decided to return to the mines to extract the deposits that still remained. Many workers did not manage to leave the mines before the company began the process of destroying and covering them.

On the 3rd of August the Tabora Supreme Court issued an order that the government stop the evictions. In the days following the order, chaos increased as the miners began to reclaim their rights at the same time as the evictions continued and the mines were being destroyed. After a period of intense action which involved the government, police forces, corporations, the mining committee, NGOs, Amnesty International and various others, attention towards Bulyanhulu began to diminish. In 1999 the World Bank, through the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), together with Export Development Canada (EDC), granted Barrick Gold political risk insurance of 72 million dollars in order to proceed in acquiring Sutton Resources in March for 500 million Canadian dollars, thus covering the investment against the risks of transfer restrictions, expropriation, war and civil disturbances. Barrick aims to generate profits of 1.3 billion dollars in a period of 15 to 20 years, while paying the local government the tiny sum of 75 million dollars.

As yet no investigation has begun and the claims of LEAT are still to be resolved. Meanwhile, the workers of Bulyanhulu have better salaries, working conditions and the right to form a syndicate. However, in reality the miners are represented by a board of workers formed by the company management. Barrick Gold continues to export lorry-loads of concentrated minerals from Bulyanhulu while 200,000 people dispersed over the whole country have lost their living without receiving any compensation for the damages caused.

In June 2006, security forces employed by Barrick Gold for the Mara gold mine, situated in the Tarime district in the north of the country, shot and killed a peasant who had supposedly illegally entered the mining complex. His death brings the total to 6 violent murders among the inhabitants by the security operators and the police who have guarded the mine since July 2005. Despite the fact that it is publicly known who the murderers are, not one of them has been arrested or put on trial. From 2004 the company has exercised measures of force to take the land that it needs for its mining operations, depositing millions of tonnes of rubbish and industrial waste in the nearby territories without obtaining consent from the inhabitants as is required by law. Lands to the west and south-west of the Nyangoto mine have been taken in this way by the company and it has gone on to deposit mountains of stone waste in the rural and residential areas, forcing the people to leave their land. The corporation receives active support from the local government and the police forces.

4. Papua New Guinea:
Environmental destruction and numerous murders of indigenous people in Porgera

After years of protesting from the indigenous communities, the government of Papua New Guinea has decided to establish an investigative committee that will examine the reports about the murders committed by the security forces of the Porgera mine operated by Placer Dome Niugini, a subsidiary company of Barrick Gold.

At the beginning of 2006, the company admitted the murders of 6 people, which were committed by their security forces. However, the communities have reported dozens of deaths and rapes, hundreds of injuries and thousands of arbitrary arrests which took place in the high risk parts of the mine, which are not far from the towns. Additionally, local landowner groups have reported the deaths of children who suffocated in the mine waste.

The escalating violence of the conflict in these last months has come from the population resisting the dumping of industrial waste into the 800km river, which ends in the Gulf of Papua, causing massive irreversible damage to the water systems and to the environment.

The corporation has said that its security forces are well-informed and trained to observe the United States and the United Kingdom Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, a voluntary code which establishes ethical standards for the security forces. Meanwhile, the governmental investigative committee has decided to focus exclusively on the reports on illegal mining. In the report only one of the murder cases in the Porgera grounds is mentioned and nowhere are the security forces named responsible for these acts and other violations of human rights, despite the fact that the local authorities have all the information with respect to this issue.

5: Canada:
Detection of silicosis among the miners of Hemlo Camp in Ontario

Silicosis is an illness caused by the inhalation of dust which contains crystalline silica and severely affects human health, since it allows some of the particles of silica to become instilled in the lungs. The deep scars that are produced when the body tries to destroy the particles increase the risk of developing an illness known as silicosis which prevents the transfer of oxygen to the blood, meaning that the aorta must work even harder to transport the blood through the damaged lungs. Over time this leads to the partial collapse of the heart.

With a 10% increase in the number of cases of silicosis is Ontario, the Steel Workers Organizing Committee demanded that the government of Ontario revise the Silica Monitoring Programme in all of the mines.

In March 2006 the Director for the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission, Nancy Hutchinson, along with the Steel Workers Organizing Committee reported that there was a serious problem in Hemlo Camp associated with the use of silica in mining activity.

There are three gold mines in Hemlo: David Bell, Williams and Golden Giant. David Bell is the product of the joint venture between the corporations Teca Cominco and Barrick Gold.

Silicosis remains an incurable disease, but the elimination of silica in the mining industry would significantly slow its spread. Meanwhile, silicosis, sarcoidosis, and asthma are still causing irreversible damage to the workers' health and incapacitating them for the rest of their lives. Today, the Canadian governmental National Board for Safety at Work continues to refuse the numerous claims of compensation for the damages suffered by the workers of David Bell.

6. Australia:
Opposition from the Wiradjuri People facing the construction of an opencast mine in Lake Cowal

Lake Cowal, situated in the west of the New South Wales, is one of the biggest ephemeral lakes in the region, merging with the Lachlan river and flowing into the Murrumbidgie and Murray rivers. Cowal is protected under two international agreements with Japan (JAMBA) and China (CAMBA) as regards the protection of migratory birds. It is also mentioned in the national patrimony register as a significant wetland and the home of many native endangered species. It is the sacred and ceremonial area of the Wiradjuri people, one of the largest native people groups in Australia and contains many artefacts which must not be removed or altered.

Barrick Gold plans to build an opencast mine 1km long, 325m deep and 825m wide on the banks of Lake Cowal, using cyanide and other lethal chemicals on a large scale for extracting gold. This is a clear violation of the rights of the Wiradjuri people to practice their religion and spirituality, excluding them from the lake which they traditionally use for different ancestral rites. There has already been enormous environmental destruction, damages to the sacred places and removal of aboriginal cultural property, including trees with ceremonial carvings and artefacts.

Recently the Supreme Court recognised the rights of the Wiradjuri community, after the leaders of this native people presented a legal resource, to participate in the identification and evaluation of the archaeological materials at risk, a task which, until then, Barrick Gold had denied them.

7. Philippine Islands:
Claims against Placer Dome for massive economic and environmental damages caused to the Marinduque island

On the 4th of October 2005, the government of the Pilipino province of Marinduque made a formal complaint of more than 100 million dollars against the mining corporation Placer Dome Inc., which was acquired by Barrick Gold in 2004(?). The local government seeks to blame Placer Dome for decades of destructive mining activity on the island. The judicial call demands compensation for the cleaning and rehabilitation of contaminated lands, lost properties and destroyed lives, damages caused by health problems among the population and repair of deteriorated mining structures which have resulted in the leakage of tonnes of industrial waste, putting the survival of the communities and the ecological systems at risk.

The province of Marinduque has 200,000 inhabitants, most of whom are rural working families, who depend on what they can cultivate from the land and sea for their living.

In 1956 Placer Dome, which at the time was called Pacer Development Limited, was involved in a project of exploration and geological mapping of the island. Marcopper Mining Corporation was established in 1964, and 5 years later the copper extraction activity started in Marinduque. Placer Dome was the owner of 39.9% of the Marcopper operations, the maximum percentage legally permitted for a foreign company operating in the Philippines, and controlled two of the mines situated on the island. It was the only mining corporation involved in Marcopper from 1969-1994.

The secret partner of Placer Dome until 1986, and owner of 50% of the company, was the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos. After being overthrown, these operations were transferred to the successive governments until 1994 when they were finally privatised.

For nearly 30 years of mining activity under the direction of Placer Dome the inhabitants suffered one environmental disaster after another. Between 1975 and 1991 Placer Dome deposited more than 200 million tonnes of toxic waste into the Calancan Bay, covering corals, alga and the bottom of the bay with 80 square kilometres of industrial waste. The food safety of 12 fishing towns in the area was severely affected for the next 27 years. A large part of the waste rose to the surface and was transported by the wind to the communities nearby. This waste has been the main cause of the lead pollution found in the children of the communities situated around the bay. Because of the lead pollution, the government declared a State of Emergency in 1998 for the health of the Calancan communities. The children in that area had to undergo detoxification treatments in Manila.

The inhabitants were never consulted about the deposits and so far they have not received any compensation for their losses. In March 1996 another massive leak occurred in the Marcopper mine which covered the 26km Boac river with 4 million tonnes of metals and toxic wastes. The leak resulted when a badly sealed drainage tunnel exploded at the base of the Tapian mine.

8. Indonesia:
Eviction of Placer Dome for having violated the rights of the Davak people and destroyed the ecological balance of the protected tropical woods

In September 2005, the government of the Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, together with the Davak indigenous community, revealed the plans of Placer Dome to begin mining operations on one of the last protected tropical woods in Indonesia. Despite resistance from the local government and the communities, the mining giant is attempting to exploit mineral deposits in a mountainous region which has a protected natural reserve since 1928. The company's exploration property is on the Southern part of the Kalimantan and is operated by the mining subsidiary Southkal Resources.

The actions of Placer Dome have had to face hard opposition from the provincial government which stands firm in its position against the mining activities in the protected Meratus jungle. Placer Dome is looking for an extension to the Indonesian Forest Law 41/1999 which prohibits opencast mining in protected forest areas in the whole of Indonesia and has been seeking political aid from the Canadian and Australian embassies in Jakarta in order to obtain the necessary permission to carry out the mining activities in the protected areas of Indonesia.

The mining industry in Indonesia has brought serious consequences to the environment of a country which desperately seeks to attract new international investors after the disastrous impacts on the economy in 2004 caused by the bird flu epidemic and the tragic terrorist attack in Bali. The extensive environmental damage that Placer Dome has caused through mining has severely altered the fragile ecosystems in Indonesia.

9. Democratic Republic of Congo:
Barrick Gold's support of paramilitary forces in order to concede mining properties

The civil war in DRC revolves around the struggle over the reserves of metals such as gold, Columbian tantalite, niobium, cobalt, copper, uranium and petroleum. The mining activity controlled by western companies relies on an unprecedented increase in operations. Every day over 6 million dollars worth of cobalt, an essential element for nuclear, chemical and Aerospatiale industries, leave the country. Organised crime led by the international companies has contributed to an unending war which has lasted more than 10 years.

In its 2005 report, Human Rights Watch exposed the Ugandan officials and multinational corporations, which smuggled gold through two local rebel militias, the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) and the People's Armed Forces of Congo (FAPC), both guilty of massacres, rapes and tortures. The international conglomerates are dedicated to dealing with instability and a weak government in order to make enormous profits from the mining operations. In the report, The Curse of the Gold, Human Rights Watch reveals that rebel forces are able to buy modern arms with the money received from various multinationals operating in the area.

The corporations benefiting from the civil war and relying on mining investments in the DRC are Barrick Gold, American Mineral Fields, Tenke Mining, Banro Resource, Consolidated Trillion, First Quantum Minerals, International Panorama Resource, Melkior Resources, Asmas Gold and Starpoint Goldfields. All of these companies have received significant concessions for the extractions of copper, cobalt, gold, platinum and zinc deposits.

Barrick Gold operates in the town of Watsa, in the northeast of Bunia, one of the most violent regions in the Congo, controlled by the Ugandan and Rwandan armed forces which receive direct support from Washington. The company has been accused of financing military operations in exchange for lucrative contracts. At the installation of the transition government, Barrick managed to obtain mining concessions of gold, diamonds and petroleum of 80,000 squared kilometres in the northeast of the country from the hands of the rebel forces.