Introduction

The Bulyanhulu site in Tanzania was the subject of controversy in recent years associated with unsubstantiated allegations of improper actions by the previous owner of the property that led to the death of artisanal miners in 1996. Numerous investigations by Tanzanian authorities, and subsequently by Barrick, had found no credible basis for the allegations. During 2002, the allegations were further discredited by a report by the ombudsman's office of the World Bank, following its comprehensive investigation of the matter.

CAO/Ombudsman Office Releases Summary Report on Bulyanhulu Mine, Tanzania

On October 29, 2002 the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman of the World Bank issued a report summarizing its assessment of allegations concerning Bulyanhulu made by the Lawyers Environmental Action Team (LEAT). Most seriously, the complaint alleged the death of artisanal miners during land clearing in 1996, prior to Barrick’s acquisition of the Bulyanhulu property from Sutton Resources Ltd. in 1999.

The CAO undertook to assess the allegations after previous investigations by Tanzanian police and Barrick. The CAO also assessed the participation of a World Bank financing agency, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), in financing the mine. (MIGA provided political risk insurance on Barrick’s financing for the mine.) The CAO says its work in Tanzania included reviewing the version of events according to LEAT, speaking with local people, mine staff, eyewitnesses, consulting police reports and reviewing documentation provided by Barrick.

The Report generally discredited the allegations and concluded that no further action could usefully be taken by the ombudsman. It stated that there is no compelling evidence to support the version of events alleged by LEAT and that the repetition of unsubstantiated allegations was not serving the best interests of local people living close to the mine. 

View the report (PDF - 1.85 MB)

Excerpts from the report follow:

ISSUE: The most serious allegation made by LEAT and repeated by some leading international groups was that 52 people were killed in the process of land clearance. It is alleged that mine shafts were filled in immediately following a government decree ordering illegal miners to vacate the property and that the operation was rapid, trapping miners underground.

• The CAO comment: “Documentation from the mine shows that the plugging and filling of mine shafts did not begin until the land was clear—on August 7.”
• Further, after interviews with local people, eyewitnesses, mine staff and reviewing police reports, the CAO stated: “the filling of the mine shafts took place some days after the decree, that it was a deliberative process and that only one earth mover was used. Therefore, the process was only as speedy as the constraint of one earth mover would allow.”

ISSUE: Statements by relatives of alleged victims.

• CAO comment: “The CAO team met with local people who stated that their relatives were among the 52 killed. Yet their neighbors took pains to tell the CAO team that these relatives were alive and well, or in one case had died in a mine accident prior to August 1996. In other cases, the Tanzanian press has found people alive in other parts of the country, who it is alleged died at this time.”

ISSUE: A claim by LEAT that it had a new videotape that purportedly shows the bodies of buried miners.

• CAO comments: “The allegations made and repeated by LEAT in its complaint to the CAO are not new. However, LEAT asserts that it has new evidence, namely a video which, it states, is a contemporaneous record of bodies being exhumed from small-scale miners’ pits.”
• “The [video’s] location, date, timing and detail cannot be verified. Therefore it is unclear that the video shows small scale miners suffocated as a result of the clearing of the land … Further, the CAO found witnesses and other contemporaneous documentation that would refute the version of events that LEAT contends the video supports.”

ISSUE: Claims of mass displacement of people in 1996.

• CAO comments: “The numbers game has become a compelling part of the alleged story at Bulyanhulu: figures from studies of the area have been embellished and exaggerated over the years.”
• “…The picture painted by the complainant of movements of thousands of people, if not tens of thousands, in caravans in the space of just a few days, would have attracted attention of central government and international agencies in the area. Yet no one can substantiate such a large internal displacement.”
• “ … that some people were still working in Bulyanhulu on July 29 and that they left for other mining areas after loading their wooden piles, pumps and other equipment onto trucks. The CAO is confident that the number is somewhere between 200 and 2000 people.”

ISSUE: Allegations of present day “intimidation, interference or undermining of the community” by the mine.

• CAO comment: “ … the CAO found that the mine was more than aware of its role and responsibility [for community development, stopping the spread of HIV/AIDs and other sexually transmitted diseases etc.] and considered that its programs and partnerships were important.” As a result of commitment to best practice by the mine management and staff, says the CAO, “the mine is performing to environmental and social standards that are in line with those expected of an investment by the World Bank Group.”

ISSUE: Repetition of allegations by non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

• CAO comment: “To repeat an allegation that one knows not to be true, especially an allegation of murder, has consequences. It has consequences on the business reputation and trading ability of a private enterprise and on the individuals concerned. There may be legal consequences to such actions. The CAO is distressed that some NGOs have felt that they may act with impunity in this case. In fact the CAO believes there is no impunity. The consequence is a backlash against the “non-accountability” of NGOs. This is dangerous territory as there are still many interest that would wish to challenge the role of civil society in the development process.”