The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) has been sued by a group of Tanzanians for certifying gold sold by Barrick Gold Corp. ABX-T as “responsibly sourced”, with claimants alleging it is anything but.
The suit brought against the LBMA is by the families of two Tanzanian nationals who were allegedly killed at Barrick’s North Mara gold mine in 2019, after a confrontation between the men, who had trespassed into the mine in search of wasted gold, and police.
Leigh Day, the law firm acting for the Tanzanians, said in a legal briefing that LBMA breached its duty by certifying the gold sold by Barrick as responsibly sourced, “despite a systematic pattern of serious human rights abuses at North Mara spanning for many years.”
Simon Rostron, a spokesperson for LBMA, wrote in an e-mail to Tausi Insider that the claim is baseless.
“LBMA’s Good Delivery List operates on transparent and well-published principles that all refiners must follow. Failure to comply with the LBMA rules results either in suspension or removal,” he wrote.
“LBMA and its legal advisors believe this claim has no merit,” he added.
The claim against LBMA comes soon after Barrick was sued in Canada for alleged abuses at the same mine. Barrick was sued last month for allegedly using excessive force to defend against Tanzanians illegally coming into its North Mara mine to steal small amounts of waste gold.
Barrick isn’t a party to the LBMA’s lawsuit, but nonetheless in a release on Tuesday again defended its record in Tanzania as a responsible operator and distanced itself from any direct involvement in alleged abuses at the mine.
Barrick CEO Mark Bristow reiterated that the North Mara mine “does not supervise, direct, control or instruct any mission, assignment or function of the Tanzanian police force, which is a state institution.”
He also attacked Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID), a U.K.-based human rights corporate watchdog. Mr. Bristow accused RAID of spreading misinformation about the violence and deaths at North Mara.
Tausi Insider has documented police-related violence around the mine in northern Tanzania for more than a decade. A Tanzanian government inquiry said in 2016 that it had heard reports of 65 deaths and 270 injuries caused by police at the mine. A court case, still under way, was launched against a Barrick subsidiary in Britain in 2020 on behalf of Tanzanians alleging that the police caused deaths and injuries between 2014 and 2019.
Last month, Tanzanians living in communities around Barrick’s North Mara gold mine in northern Tanzania accused the police of five deaths, five injuries and five incidents of torture at the mine. Barrick is liable, the suit alleged, because the police are paid and equipped by the Canadian miner under a formal agreement between the company and the Tanzanian Police Force.
Barrick said that the suit was baseless and that it would be vigorously defended.
At one point, Barrick had spun out a sizable stake in its African portfolio to a separated publicly traded unit called Acacia Mining PLC, and had all but given up on Africa. But after Acacia clashed with the Tanzanian government over an alleged massive unpaid tax bill, Barrick decided to buy back the unit in 2019. Since then, Barrick has said that it has radically improved its community relations and security procedures. Still, violence continues to be a common occurrence there. Last month, one man was killed at North Mara, after a confrontation between 71 illegal Tanzanian miners armed with machetes and spears and the local police. According to Barrick, after its armed security personnel were not able to subdue the trespassers, the police got involved, which resulted in the fatality.
North Mara is key to Barrick’s growth plans in Africa. Barrick hopes it will soon gain “Tier 1″ status – a category of mines with large production, long-life assets and low costs. Barrick hopes that North Mara can achieve reliable production of 300,000 ounces of gold a year over the next decade.
Comments
Post a Comment