Barrick says outside actors to blame in fresh abuse allegations at North Mara in Tanzania

Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) says a human rights group making allegations of forced expulsions to expand the North Mara mine in Tanzania is incorrect.

Ottawa-based MiningWatch Canada contends thousands of Indigenous Kuria people were driven from their homes in December last year and in August and September this year. The group initially published a report on its claims in October 2022 and says the abuses continue.

“The eviction process has been intimidating, coercive and sometimes violent and did not conform to human rights norms,” MiningWatch research coordinator Catherine Coumans said in a release on Tuesday. “Villagers were prohibited from using their land to feed and support themselves long before they received any compensation. When the bulldozers came to destroy their homes, they had nowhere to go.” 

Barrick has repeatedly said in letters to MiningWatch that the company and the mine haven’t conducted forced evictions. The government has implemented a land purchase and compensation plan that has paid more than 4,900 people. Outside actors are responsible for lawlessness, CEO Mark Bristow wrote in March.

“There are unscrupulous land speculators that undertake illegal activities and seek compensation outside the remits of the law. These speculators have been responsible for intimidation and violent conduct during the process, and seek to pressure the company through external organizations that echo their unfounded claims.”

Court cases

Barrick didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment on Tuesday. It acquired the mine near Lake Victoria and the border with Kenya in 2019. There are some 32 cases concerning the relocations in Tanzanian court, but they’re about how much they agreed to be paid, not whether they were forced out, Barrick said.

“We support the rule of law and the right for individuals to use the Tanzanian judicial system,” Bristow wrote. “Our response is categorical that there are no forced evictions.”

The North Mara mine, which began commercial operation in 2002, has faced allegations of police brutality for years. The latest batch arrived within days of Barrick being named Tanzania’s employer of the year by a country-wide business group. The mine was run by a London-based subsidiary of Barrick, Acacia Mining, before Barrick acquired it. It’s now run in partnership with the government, which holds 16%.

The mine was losing about $31 million a year to organized crime helped by police before 2017, according to a consultant hired by Barrick. The consultant’s report was released in September at a court case in the United Kingdom. That case was brought by people living near the mine that allege Acacia routinely cooperated with police who caused the deaths and injuries of locals.

Informal miners

Mines in poorer countries are regularly besieged by informal miners who sneak onto properties or pay guards to look the other way. Police try to keep order outside the mine. Barrick has updated the mine’s management of its own security and its agreement with the Tanzanian Police Force (TPF) to align them with human rights, the company said.

“We recognized and have addressed the legacy issues, rebuilt trust and restored the social licence to operate,” Barrick said in September. “Barrick does not, and cannot, control, direct or supervise the TPF which operates independently under their own chain of command.”

The displaced around North Mara enter the mine’s waste rock dumps to find residual gold, MiningWatch states. It alleges many of these Kuria are killed or maimed by national police. Some of those are part of another lawsuit in the U.K against the London Bullion Market Association for lack of due diligence in certifying gold from North Mara is free of human rights abuses. There’s also a case in Canada with allegations against Barrick for excessive force by security over the past three years.

MiningWatch cited a father with 11 people in his household as one of those relocated by government officials.

“They came and told the police ‘we are done and we want him to sign.’ I asked them, ‘why should I sign something that I do not understand?,’” the man said. “I was badly beaten that day. Then I signed without understanding what I was signing and they took a photo of me.”  

Barrick has argued that MiningWatch hasn’t offered details about abuse to substantiate its allegations.

“We are willing to investigate such specific information against our own records,” Bristow wrote in March. “We would invite you to reconsider your approach so that a more productive dialogue can be achieved.”