Biodiversity Management and Protection

Barrick operates on 5 continents, encompassing a wide variety of ecosystems. Barrick is committed to conserving and managing lands and the many varieties of species of plant and animal life that inhabit these lands, working in consultation with local communities and regulators. Our sites worldwide are engaged in efforts to protect, manage and reclaim lands and plant and animal habitats.

We take actions to protect wildlife by installing gates, netting and fencing around our active mining areas. We manage and improve habitats on or near our operations by enhancing vegetation along shorelines, minimizing introduced pest species, enhancing bird habitat and engaging in stream and wetland remediation.

For example, we have improved over 90 kilometers of Lahontan Cutthroat Trout shoreline habitat in Nevada, replanting vegetation that had diminished to due to cattle overgrazing. At many sites, we have projects specifically designed to protect rare or significant plant and animal life; at others, habitat enhancement projects are underway. Where possible, we have implemented native seed collection and soil management projects even prior to mine development. Barrick has also established nurseries at a number of sites to grow local plant species for reforestation and replanting once mining is complete. At some locations, we are re-vegetating areas off our property that were degraded by other land users.

We have implemented controls at each of our operations to safeguard wildlife from mine processes and chemical exposure. These controls include barriers such as fencing and netting, the use of ‘bird balls’ and other covers for ponds and tanks, as well as cyanide destruction processes at some operations.

Barrick partners with government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including Trout Unlimited, Bighorn Unlimited, and the Nature Conservancy, in our efforts to protect and enhance plant and animal habitat on our sites. We have donated to numerous universities and environmental NGOs globally to assist in advancing the understanding of biodiversity lands involved in the mining process. For instance, in Australia, we have collaborated with government and NGOs in furthering the use and development of ecosystem function analysis. Additionally, most Barrick sites are conducting studies on the best reclamation techniques for use in their geographic region to help create self-sustaining, resilient ecosystems once mining is complete.

World Heritage sites are properties identified by the World Heritage Committee, elected from the countries that are Parties to the World Heritage Convention (established by UNESCO), as having outstanding universal cultural or natural value. We do not operate in World Heritage areas. However, we have three operations located near World Heritage sites: the Henty Mine, bordering the Tasmania Wilderness World Heritage site - the South-West National Park, Australia, the North Mara Mine located 20 kilometers west of the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania and the Veladero Mine, bordering the San Guillermo Man and Biosphere Program Reserve, a buffer zone for the San Guillermo National Park, Argentina. Our intent is to avoid these areas.

We also have operations located in areas identified as having sensitive habitats, including sage grouse – Lahontan trout habitat in the western USA, high Andes habitat in Argentina, Kapoche forest habitat in Tanzania and the Lake Cowal wetland habitat in Australia.