Australia |
Since the early 1990s, the campaign to stop Barrick's gold mine at Lake Cowal in central western NSW, Australia has focused on the cultural and ecological significance of the area. Powerful direct actions, community education and legal action carried out by local Aboriginal leaders, indigenous and community activists has tied up and cast grave doubts on Barrick Gold's huge Lake Cowal project. |
| Lake Cowal Gathering 2009 Join Wiradjuri and their supporters over the easter weekend, Friday 10 - Sunday 12 April. |
| 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.) |
| 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. |
| Munk takes on mine protesters, defends capitalism: ‘We do not need your money,’ Indigenous Chilean woman tells Barrick Gold by John Spears, The Star April 28th, 2010 Mark Ekepa journeyed from Papua New Guinea to tell the shareholders of Barrick Gold Corp. how police had burned down his house near the Barrick’s Porgera mine. Idolia Bornones travelled from Chile to say that Barrick operations are damaging local glaciers and rivers. But Barrick chairman Peter Munk was unrepentant as he faced the company’s annual meeting. |
| Barrick Gold year in Review: One Company, 9 Countries, Countless abuses by Sakura Saunders, editor protestbarrick.net April 26th, 2010 From mass poisonings and mass mobilizations in the Dominican Republic, to damning reports in PNG and Tanzania to lawsuits in Chile and the US, Barrick has had its hands full this year in dealing with mounting opposition to its mines. In this Year in Review, you'll find out the ways that Barrick has damaged communities around the world and the many ways that communities are fighting back and demanding justice. |
| The campaign to save Lake Cowal by Felicity Royds, The Green Left Weekly March 13th, 2010 Lake Cowal, located between the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan rivers that feed into the Murray Darling basin, is the sacred heartland of the Wiradjuri country. The important wetland and conservation area is also home to an open-pit goldmine, operated by Canada-based multinational Barrick Gold. |
| Activists call for mine closures in face of Lachlan water crisis savelakecowal.org October 27th, 2009 Aboriginal elders and environmental activists are calling for mining in the Lachlan Catchment of New South Wales to be halted as the Wyangala Dam dries up. |
 | Mine water use apparently ignored in water crisis Indigenous Justice Advocacy Network October 26th, 2009 “Following the decision of authorities on 23 October to halve water flows from the Wyangala Dam on 1 November 2009 and the spectre of towns without water, we can’t understand why mines and exploration projects in the Lachlan Catchment are not being closed down,” said Wiradjuri Elder, Neville Williams. |
| Water crisis in west as Lachlan River runs dry by MARIAN WILKINSON AND BEN CUBBY, Sydney Morning Herald October 24th, 2009 THOUSANDS of households in western NSW are facing an unprecedented water crisis and the State Government is stepping up plans to help truck water to several towns, while others will be restricted to using water only for critical human needs. |
| Mine expansion delayed by Indigenous owners by Simon Butler, GreenLeft Weekly July 4th, 2009 The NSW Supreme court of appeal ruled on July 1 that a planned expansion of the Lake Cowal gold mine in the central-west of NSW cannot go ahead for up to three months. |
| ** BARRICK MINING DISASTERS - Emergency Funds Needed ** May 21st, 2009 This has been a crazy past few weeks to be watchdogging Barrick Gold. Within the first week of starting our annual ProtestBarrick tour in Toronto, a Barrick-recommended military force in PNG started to torch hundreds of houses, allegedly to clear way for mine expansion. SO... we changed plans a bit, MiningWatch Canada sent an Urgent Appeal to several United Nations Special Rapporteurs and now we are now attending the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York! Amnesty International has also made a public statement on the recent events at Porgera. |
| COMUNICADO DE PRENSA: 28 manifestantes pacíficos detenidos al ocupar mina de Barrick Gold en Lake Cowal, Australia 12 de abril, 2009. April 12th, 2009 28 manifestnates fueron detenidos esta mañana en la operación minera Lake Cowal de Barrick Gold, al centro de Nueva Gales del Sur del oeste. Los manifestantes fueron autorizados a ingresar al predio por sus propietarios tradicionales del pueblo Wiradjuri. |
| Preselsendo: 28 pacaj manifestaciantoj arestitaj post permeso okupi orminejon April 12th, 2009 28 manifestaciantoj estis arestitaj ĉi-matene ĉe la orminejo de Barrick Gold ĉe Lake Cowal, centr-okcidente en Novsudkimrujo. Ili ricevis permeson de Wiradjuri (Ŭiraĝuri) Tradiciaj Posedantoj de ĉirkaŭ Lake Cowal eniri al la minejon. |
| Communiqué de presse: 28 manifestants pacifiques arrêtés après avoir été autorisés à occuper une mine d'or April 12th, 2009 28 manifestants ont été arrêtés ce matin à la mine d'or de Barrick Gold à Lake Cowal, dans le sud-ouest de la Nouvelle-Galles du Sud. Ils avaient cependant reçu l'autorisation des occupants traditionnels de la région de Lake Cowal et environs, de la nation aborigène de Wiradjuri. |
| MEDIA RELEASE: 28 peaceful protesters arrested after authorisation to occupy mine site April 12th, 2009 28 protesters were arrested this morning at Barrick Gold's mine operation in Lake Cowal, central western New South Wales. They were authorised to enter the mine site by Wiradjuri Tradtional Owners of Lake Cowal and its surrounds. |
 | MEDIA ALERT: Smoking ceremony, blockade and protesters occupy open cut pit halting mine operations. April 12th, 2009 Wiradjuri Traditional Owners and supporters are inside Barrick Gold’s mine operation in Lake Cowal central western New South Wales currently halting operations. Wiradjuri are conducting a smoking ceremony inside the mine site. Over 10,000 artefacts have been stolen and kept by Barrick Gold Corporation at the mine site in a compound encircled by a 6 foot fence. Over 25 supporters are currently occupying the open-cut pit and several others are blockading the front gate to prevent shift change. |
| ACTION ALERT: Gold mine operation halted due to smoking ceremony April 12th, 2009 Over 50 people have been lead to the edge of Barrick Gold Corporations mine site by Wiradjuri Traditional Owners of the Lake Cowal area in a ceremony to cleanse the land and to stop mine operations. |
| Indigenous activisits protest gold mine expansion
Radio Australia News April 11th, 2009 In Australia, indigenous campaigners are holding a weekend-long protest to try to force the closure of a gold mine in central New South Wales. |
| MEDIA RELEASE: Protesters to halt mining operations - unsustainable mining harms Australia April 11th, 2009 Concerned citizens have gathered in solidarity with Wiradjuri Traditional Owners of the Lake Cowal area to halt Barrick Gold Corporation’s mine operation in the lake. The campaign to Save Lake Cowal has been running for 10 years, this is the seventh gathering at Lake Cowal to protest the mine. |
 | MEDIA RELEASE: Wiradjuri and Supporters Say No to Mine Expansion April 10th, 2009 What: Lake Cowal Gathering: No Expansion! Shut Barrick Gold’s Mine Down! When: 10-13 April 2009 Where: Lake Cowal, central western New South Wales From the 10-13 April up to 100 people from around Australia will make the journey to Lake Cowal in central western NSW to support Wiradjuri Traditional Owners in their 10 year campaign against the worlds largest gold miner. |