Barrick Gold hosts North Mara site visit for human rights NGO

Barrick Gold Corporationhas hosted a two-day open-door visit to its North Mara Gold Mine in Tanzania by the UK-based NGO RAID represented primarily by its executive director, Anneke van Woudenberg. The intention of the visit was for RAID to experience firsthand the positive impact Barrick has had since assuming operational control of North Mara in September 2019. In the course of the visit, RAID were given a comprehensive presentation on the mine’s operations and operating environment and were able to view the transformative impact the mine’s sustainability strategy has had on its host communities, as is the case for all Barrick mines. RAID was invited to observe one of the frequent community engagement meetings between North Mara, the village chairpersons, ward and village executive officials of the 11 host villages as well as their member of parliament. At this meeting, the village leadership afforded RAID the opportunity to raise any human rights issues they felt were of concern. Consistent with Barrick’s findings to date, the village leadership did not corroborate the allegations raised by RAID and reaffirmed that there had been no previous engagement with RAID on the concerns raised. RAID also had the opportunity to see community projects, including the agribusiness which provides livelihoods to over 100 youths, the potable tap water supply which will supply over 30,000 community members, new schools and medical facilities. These projects were all funded by the mine through a Community Development Committee, which puts the community at the heart of the decision-making process. Finally, Barrick introduced RAID to key local authorities and held tripartite meetings which included the Regional Police Commander and the District Commissioner.