Barrick Gold Corp. (Barrick) has chosen, once again, not to hold its annual shareholder meeting in-person in Toronto this year and instead, has moved proceedings to a highly-controlled online format. For many years community members, often Indigenous peoples, from villages surrounding Barrick mines have travelled from as far away as Papua New Guinea and Chile to Toronto to be able to speak directly to shareholders and the board of directors. This transparent opportunity to hear from people most directly impacted by Barrick’s operations has been curtailed by the virtual AGM format. Online participation proved to be controlled by the virtual process last year as reported in the Globe and Mail, where the company was “accused of using the virtual format for its annual general meeting to suppress critical questions from stakeholders.”
“It is bad enough that we hear increasingly about suppression of local people’s ability to speak out in their own countries, but to have this extend to Canada is highly problematic,” says Catherine Coumans from MiningWatch Canada. “Canadian shareholders and the public need to hear these community voices but last year’s virtual process has undermined trust that they will be allowed to speak freely.”
As Barrick prepares to hold its virtual Annual General Meeting, members of the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network will take to the street outside Barrick’s Toronto headquarters to give voice to the protests of communities surrounding Barrick mines globally.
Communities affected by Barrick mines, and those who work with them, share messages that shareholders and Canadians need to hear about their human rights and environmental concerns.
ARGENTINA
The Asamblea Jáchal No Se Toca has systematically documented and denounced toxic spills at Barrick’s Veladero mine since 2015 and the response (or lack thereof) from the government and the company. However, 7 years after local officials were charged, there’s still no justice for the communities.
The Assembly of Jáchal No Se Toca states:
“Barrick’s lobby in Argentina is preventing the advancement of a trial from taking place for a 2015 cyanide and mercury spill that has been called the worst environmental disaster caused by mining in Argentina’s history. Veladero continues to pollute our waters! Members of the Assembly of Jáchal No Se Toca demand the permanent closure of the Veladero gold mine and the advancement of the trial!”
CHILE
Five years after a Chilean court made an historic ruling ordering the permanent closure of Barrick Gold’s Pascua Lama project in Chile, local affected Indigenous communities are denouncing Barrick for attempting to develop its “El Alto” exploration project in the same area. This is a protected area, a biosphere home to several important glaciers that sustain the surrounding agricultural valley.
Indigenous peoples of Diaguita Patay Co say:
“Although Barrick has changed its executives, its modus operandi has not changed at all: the company continues to act in total contempt of local communities, absent any real dialogue, while presenting technically-deficient projects with incomplete information and no assessment of the damage already caused...
We ask that investors [in ‘El Alto’] take moral responsibility, understanding that they are supporting a proposed project that violates rights, affects ancestral territories, and is located in an area protected by Chilean environmental court rulings. Investing in Pascua Lama or ‘El Alto’ is to insist on a failed extractive model that has left destruction, division, and mistrust in the communities of the Huasco Valley. We ask you to withdraw your investment and stop financing a project that is repeating the exact same mistakes and abuses as Pascua Lama.”
Read their full statement here.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Expressing deep concern over the expansion of tailings dams the Comité Nuevo Renacer – representing 450 families living downstream of the Pueblo Viejo mine, some within 500 meters of the massive El Llagal tailings storage facility – say that they do not want to be part of the “more than 100 fatalities” predicted in the event of a dam failure. They want Barrick and its shareholders to know that they are urgently calling for relocation before tragedy strikes.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
A report prepared by the recognized Indigenous clan leaders organization of Porgera, the Porgera Landowners Association (PLOA) raises serious concerns about their lack of insight and input into the agreements that allowed the New Porgera Limited mine to start operations again in 2004: “We the SML landowners are concerned that several key agreements related to the Porgera gold project were signed without or [our] input or consent. (...) We question the fairness, equity, and transparency of these agreements, as we were not consulted or involved in the negotiation process. We are concerned that our rights and interests are not adequately protected under these agreements.” PLOA has long advocated for resettlement of Porgera clans away from the mine area.
In an April 2025 letter to Papua New Guinea’s Conservation and Environment Protection Authority, grassroots Human Rights organization Akali Tange Association asks that “past and current instances of sexual violence, forced evictions and environmental degradation affecting local communities” be included in an upcoming audit of the mine.
BALOCHISTAN
Analysts express scepticism that further militarization will address the underlying issues of lack of social license from the Indigenous Baloch people for the Reko Diq mine: “[E]ven if the government fulfils the Frontier Corps’ (FC) financial demands for guarding the Reko Diq Project, the security challenges will persist. (...) Lasting peace and a truly investor-friendly environment will only be achieved by respecting the aspiration of the local people, addressing their grievances with empathy and taking meaningful steps to earn their trust.” Lateef Johar, a human rights advocate associated with Human Rights Council of Balochistan says: “The biggest concerns of the Indigenous locals and human rights advocates are transparency, access to the documents and data regarding the project, and the militarization of the area around the mine with associated human rights abuses”
TANZANIA
Indigenous Kuria from villages surrounding North Mara Gold Mine in Tanzania have filed two cases in Canada against Barrick for alleged “acts of extreme violence committed by Mine Police in the service of Barrick in and around the North Mara Mine.” On November 26, 2024, the cases were dismissed in Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Legal counsel for the plaintiffs has appealed this ruling. In a new report, MiningWatch Canada reflects on the legal proceedings.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
Barrick faces serious human rights accusations with regard to its Kibali gold mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a result of alleged forced evictions of some 2,500 families who were made homeless. In 2024, following a three year investigation, the Dutch Non-Governmental Organization PAX reported that it found “overwhelming evidence that the expansion of the Kibali mine has entailed large-scale dispossession and violence affecting local communities.”
For more information, contact:
Catherine Coumans, Research Coordinator MiningWatch Canada, [email protected], tel. 613-256-8331