PRESS RELEASE Friends
of the Earth International
TORONTO
[CANADA], April 27, 2011 � Today, during the annual general meeting
(AGM) of mining company Barrick Gold in Toronto (Canada), Friends of
the Earth International is supporting a loud call from communities
around the world for a halt to gold mining and Barrick Gold's
destructive practices. Campaigners are present at the meeting and
join a protest rally outside the meeting venue. Barrick Gold, the
largest gold miner in the world, has been the subject of many
documented studies of human rights abuses and environmental
devastation globally, including in the Philippines, Tanzania and
Australia.
Friends of the Earth International calls in to
question the necessity of the Canadian-owned corporation's gold
mining operations. With the vast majority of gold used for jewellery,
Barrick�s gold mines on average use more water[1]
than the entire bottle water industry in Canada[2],
and this water is polluted with mining waste products such as
cyanide, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, selenium, and sulphides.
Romel
de Vera, coordinator of Friends of the Earth International's program
on Resisting Mining, Oil and Gas,said, �All this waste, pollution
and impacts on communities lives and livelihoods is in exchange for a
product that has very few practical applications. With environmental
costs almost entirely unaccounted for, the processing costs are all
that stand in the way for companies to realise huge profits at the
expense of those living next to the mines.�
Last year, the
Norwegian Pension fund divested $230 million from Barrick for ethical
reasons[3],
especially related to their mine in Papua New Guinea. And when Swiss
Research firm Covalace compiled both quantitative and qualitative
data spanning seven years and 581 companies they listed Barrick as
the 12 least ethical company in the world[4].
Heri
Ayubu, from Lawyers Environmental Action Team/Friends of the Earth
Tanzania said: � There have been two reports[5,6]
confirming lasting negative effects of a toxic spill from
Barrick Gold's North Mara operation in Tanzania that occurred in May
2010. Villagers alleged that up to 40 people and from 700 to 1,000
herds of livestock died from the contaminated water and the nearby
community are still experiencing health problems to date. Despite
this Barrick has taken no action and is still endangering peoples�
right to life.�
Natalie Lowrey, from Friends of the Earth
Australia who is inside Barrick Gold's Annual General Meeting in
Toronto, Canada and joining the rally outside said: �In Australia,
Barrick has desecrated an ecologically and culturally significant
site on Wiradjuri lands[7] with an open-pit mine in the bed of Lake Cowal within a flood plain.
Wiradjuri Traditional Owners have been fighting Barrick in the courts
for 10 years on the desecration of sacred sites at Lake Cowal and on
the protection of Wiradjuri Native Title Rights.�
Friends of
the Earth is joining ProtestBarrick.net
with Barrick Gold impacted communities from Tanzania, Philippines and
Papua New Guinea on a two week speaking tour in Canada from 27 April
until 15 May.
Actions protesting Barrick Gold are also
taking place in Latin
America
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Romel de
Vera, Friends of the Earth International, Tel: +63
906 305 7097 (Philippines), mel.devera@lrcksk.org
Natalie
Lowrey, Friends of the Earth Australia, +1
647 838 8455 (Canada), natalie.lowrey@foe.org.au
Heri
Ayubu, Lawyers Environmental Action Team-Friends of the Earth
Tanzania, +255
656 322 271 (Tanzanian office),
heriayubu23@gmail.com
NOTES
[1].
Of the 23 mines that Barrick provides water usage data for, the
average water consumption totals 3.6 billion litres/year for 2009.
Barrick Gold
website. http://www.barrick.com/CorporateResponsibility/Reporting/PerformanceTables/Environment/default.aspx
[2].
In 2006, Canada consumed 2.15 billion litres of bottled water
http://www4.agr.gc.ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1171644581795&lang=eng
[3].
Norwegian Government website
http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/fin/press-center/Press-releases/2009/mining-company-excluded-from-thegovernm.html?id=543107
[4].
Huffington Post The 12 Least Ethical Companies In The World:
Covalence�s Ranking�,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/28/the-leastethicalcompani_n_440073.html
[5],
Bitala, Manfre, Charles Kweyunga, and Mkabwa LK Manoko, �Levels of
Heavy Metals and Cyanide in Soil, Sediment and Water from the
Vicinity of North Mara Gold Mine in Tarime District, Tanzania� June
2009
http://www.protestbarrick.net/downloads/North%20Mara%20Pollution%20Report.pdf
[6].
Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Investigation of trace metal
concentrations in soil, sediments and waters in the vicinity of Geita
Gold Mineand North Mara Gold Minein North West Tanzania, 2009
http://www.protestbarrick.net/downloads/FinalTanzania-2.pdf
[7]
Barrick Gold's mine in Lake Cowal, the 'Sacred Heartland of the
Wiradjuri Nation', http://bit.ly/lakecowalaerial19
April 2011
|