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Environment


Gold mining is a highly consumptive and environmentally destructive industry. In addition to the landscapes that is destroys, gold mining (especially open pit gold mining) creates massive amounts of toxic waste that often causes acid mine drainage and heavy metal contamination.
Gold mining and metal processing also uses vast amount of water and energy, often subsidized. It also utilizes dangerous chemicals such as cyanide in its leaching processes, posing a threat to local water systems.


Water Depletion
Water depletion is a major negative consequence of gold mining. The large amount of water required to run a gold mining operation exacerbates its impact on local communities, many of which are already experiencing drought.

Acid Mine Drainage
Open pit mining creates great waste for a small yield. On average, it takes 79 tons of waste to extract one ounce of gold, according to a conservative estimate by the No Dirty Gold campaign, a project of EarthWorks and Oxfam. The process involves grinding up ore, and then exposing it to cyanide in order to extract the gold. Sulfides in the crushed rocks interact with air and water to create sulfuric acid, which in turn creates acid mine drainage (AMD). In and of itself, AMD is harmful to ecosystems because it makes water too acidic to support life. Additionally, the sulfuric acid in AMD leaches out other substances from the waste ore, such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury, which can have disastrous health effects, and can contaminate both air and water. Gold mining has been linked to 96 percent of the world�s arsenic emissions.

Cyanide
Cyanide is the chemical-of-choice for mining companies to extract gold from crushed ore, despite the fact that leaks or spills of this chemical are extremely toxic to fish, plant life and human beings. Cyanide is a deadly chemical, used in the gas chambers of the Second World War and on death row in the United States between 1930-1980. The chemical has caused havoc in water systems across the world with over 30 spills in the last five years.

Fly Over of Barrick Gold's Mine in Lake Cowal
by Natalie LowreySpecial to protestbarrick.net
February 4th, 2013
On Monday 4th February 2013, Wiradjuri Traditional Owner, Nevillle 'Chappy' Williams and ProtestBarrick.net co-founders and editors Sakura Saunders (Canada) and Natalie Lowrey (Australia) took a cessna plane from Forbes to Lake Cowal in central western New South Wales, Australia to document a gold mine in the lake. The slideshow video of the recent flight over Lake Cowal shows Barrick's mine pit in the lake bed surrounded by water. On the flight there were hundreds of birds seen in the 1km square toxic tailings dams. Many of these birds have flown great distances to get here and cannot differentiate the difference between the water of Lake Cowal and the tailings dams of the mine. The contamination of water with cyanide and heavy metals by the mine is of major concern to Wiradjuri Traditional Owners and environmentalists.

Barrick Gold Mine Spill �Contaminated Five Rivers with Cyanide�
by Azzura LalaniThe Argentina Independent
February 23rd, 2016
Last September�s cyanide spill at the Veladero mine owned by Barrick Gold contaminated five rivers in the region, according to a federal court commissioned report.

Land dispute sends farmers, Barrick Gold back to court
Dominican Today
February 11th, 2016
Cotui, Dominican Republic. Hundreds of farmers on Thursday are gathered at the Sanchez Ramirez province (central) Land Court, site of the fifth hearing in their case against the miner Barrick Gold. Hundreds of people have sued the mining company to demand payment for the farmers� properties.

Million-Liter Cyanide Spill in Argentina Highlights Canadian Mining Crimes
by Deirdre FultonCommon Dreams
October 25th, 2015
Highlighting how corporate extractivism and lack of accountability is driving the destruction of Latin American communities, a Canadian mining company has now confirmed that more than one million liters of cyanide solution spilled from the Barrick Gold Veladero mine in San Juan, Argentina this month�making the spill more than four times larger than originally estimated.

Several injured in break-up of anti-mining protest in Argentina
EFE
October 23rd, 2015
Several people were injured and more than a score were arrested when police broke up an anti-mining protest near a Barrick Gold-operated mine in the northwestern Argentine province of San Juan, where a cyanide spill occurred last month, demonstrators said Friday.

Houses develop cracks caused by blasting activities by Barrick Lumwana mine
Lusaka Times
October 21st, 2015
Several houses in village around Kakaindu in Manyama area of Kalumbila district have developed cracks arising from blasting activities by Barrick Lumwana mine at Chimibungu pit.

UN experts analyze water samples in San Juan after cyanide spill
Buenos Aires Herald
September 20th, 2015
A group of United Nations (UN) experts started to analyze water samples of the rivers Jachal, Las Taguas and Blanco in San Juan to see if they have been polluted with cyanide, following an industrial malfunction at the Veladero mine that caused a pipe carrying the lethal substance to fracture.

Leak poisons Barrick Gold�s reputation
by Michael Lerner Blouin News Business
September 18th, 2015
An Argentine judge on Wednesday ordered a five-day suspension of the gold leaching process at Barrick Gold Corp.�s Veladero mine in San Juan province. The purpose is to check if there was any environmental damage from a 15,000 liter cyanide leak on Sunday caused by a faulty valve. Local residents of J�chal, outraged and fearful of their water supply being contaminated, began protesting as soon as they found out, and spurred the governments of the province and the nation to action.

Porgera�s new joint owner has a terrible record in China
by Yang ChuanminThe Guardian UK
Chinese Zijin Mining has bought a 49.5% stake in Barrick Gold�s already troubled Porgera mine. The new owner has a terrible environmental and human rights record in China

Barrick AGM statement by Jethro Tulin, Executive officer of Porgera Alliance and Akali Tange Association
by Jethro TulinPorgera Alliance, Akali Tange Association
April 28th, 2015

Court to hear injunction request against Barrick Gold extractions in Dominican Republic
Dominican Today
April 22nd, 2015
Sanchez Ramirez province (northeast) Civil Court judge Jacqueline Y. Ramos will hear on April 28 the request for an injunction to halt mining against Barrick Gold�s local operation Pueblo Viejo Dominicana filed by the missionary Rafael Guill�n, EFE reports.

Chile regulator seeks new sanctions against Barrick's Pascua-Lama
Reuters
April 22nd, 2015
Chile's environmental regulator SMA said on Wednesday it will seek new sanctions against Barrick Gold Corp's massive Pascua-Lama gold and silver project, further complicating the possibility that the suspended mine might resume construction.

Swedish Public Funds Drop Stocks over Ethics Concerns
Chief Investment Officer
April 9th, 2015
The Ethics Council, formed by four of Sweden�s national pension funds, has excluded three companies from investment portfolios after deciding further dialogue over their concerns would be fruitless.

Science on Trial at Pascua Lama
GlacierHub
Chile�s environmental court ruled on Monday that Pascua Lama, the Andean nation�s most controversial mine, is not responsible for damage done to three glaciers near the mine site. While the mine�s operations will remain suspended due to a variety of other challenges, the decision was a setback for local environmental groups, who seek to protect the country�s glaciers. Some say it also represents a defeat for Chile�s scientific institutions.

Barrick faces multi-billion dollar suit over Porgera mine
by Cecilia JamasmieMining.com
March 19th, 2015
Canada's Barrick Gold (NYSE, TSX:ABX), in the midst of a worldwide assets sale to help reduce net debt by at least $3 billion, has something else to worry about these days, as the firm is now facing a legal threat in Papua New Guinea.

Unveiling Medals, Veiling Abuse: A profile of the mines sourcing PanAm Medals
by compiled by Sakura Saunders
March 3rd, 2015
Barrick Gold and the Royal Canadian Mint today unveiled the design of the medals to be awarded to athletes at this summer's PanAm games. 4,000 competitions medals will be awarded during the course of both the Pan Am Games and the Parapan Am Games. But why are we using this opportunity to promote the irresponsible practice of open pit gold mining, especially considering that we get more than enough gold these days from recycled sources? Specifically, why are we celebrating a mining company whose abuses are well documented and widespread. To illustrate my point, let's look at the three mines highlighted as the sources of the PanAm medals.

Mine Landowners: Settle issues first
Post Courier
February 19th, 2015
Landowners along the Pogera river who were affected by environmental damages caused by the Porgera Gold Mine have petitioned the government to intervene on their request for the developer Barrick Gold to compensate them for the damages caused to their environment and river systems.

VIDEO: an inside look at Barrick's Porgera Mine in Papua New Guinea
This film originally appeared on French Television and offers an inside look on the ground at Barrick's Porgera Mine in Papua New Guinea.

Nevada court hears Barrick Gold-Philippines province appeal
by Ken RitterAP
February 4th, 2015
A Philippine island province that experienced mining waste disasters in the 1990s but has been unable to find a court to hear its claim for damages is asking Nevada's highest court to rekindle a nearly 10-year-old state lawsuit against Barrick Gold Corp.

Protest in Nevada: Mining companies must pay full costs to remedy harm EVERYWHERE they operate
by Catherine Coumans
February 3rd, 2015
Today, south of Canada in the US state of Nevada, lawyers for the Province of Marinduque squared off against lawyers for Barrick Gold. Marinduque is holding Barrick Gold responsible for providing remedy for multiple disastrous mine waste failures in Marinduque that have caused serious damage to major river and sea ecosystems and have harmed many Marinduquenos. Last year, Barrick tried to make the law suit go away by offering Marinduque $20 million (of which the province would only get about $12 million after legal and administrative fees). The Province of Marinduque rightly turned down this grossly inadequate offer with its many onerous conditions. And so, the Province is back in court continuing the battle against Barrick for a fair settlement that will allow the Province to clean up the mess that mining has left behind.

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