Barrick Gold Corporation - Sustainability

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OUR APPROACH

Barrick’s sustainability vision is to create long-term value for all our stakeholders.

We contribute to the social and economic development of our host countries and communities. We protect the safety and health of our workforce. We respect human rights. And we manage our impacts on the natural environment, both today and with future generations in mind.

We live our vision every day, by embedding environmental, social and economic considerations into all our business decisions, through partnerships with host governments and communities and by engaging respectfully with all our stakeholders.

Delivering sustainability starts with defining it. Our corporate vision clearly sets out what sustainability means at Barrick and what we want our sustainability work to achieve.

At the heart of our sustainability philosophy is a belief that our ability to operate successfully is reliant on our ability to deliver long-term value to all our stakeholders and to proactively manage our impacts on the wider environment. That is why we invest in community-led development to help create thriving local economies and apply international best practice when it comes to protecting people and the environment.

Our business is where the mine is. So too, is our commitment to sustainability.

It is driven at an operational level, not set in a corporate office as part of a compliance exercise. Each mine plays a role in identifying programs, metrics, and targets that measure real progress and real impacts. We do not report data because it is popular, or others do so. We track our sustainability performance because it helps us make better decisions, to help de-risk projects, discover new opportunities and deliver real value for our business.

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Sustainable development is truly at the heart of our business and our sustainability vision is embedded in every aspect of what we do — we live it.

Grant Beringer, Group Sustainability Executive

General Manager Luiz Correira presents Barrick’s sustainability objectives and fields questions from community members during one of the very first CDC meetings at North Mara, Tanzania. These meetings have been welcomed by the community, given the lack of engagement in the past.

OUR COMMITMENT IN ACTION

When we obtained control of the North Mara mine in Tanzania as part of the acquisition of the minority shareholders’ interest in Acacia Mining plc (Acacia) in September 2019, it was facing significant sustainability challenges. The mine had a legacy of extremely strained relations with the local community and in July 2019, the government of Tanzania had forced its Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) to cease operation due to environmental concerns.

One of the first things we did following the acquisition was to start the work of rebuilding relations with the local community. We established a Community Development Committee (CDC) to oversee local community investment and put the community at the center of the decision-making process for local development. While still in its infancy, the CDC at North Mara has already started to change community sentiment toward the mine and begin the process of restoring its social license to operate. For example, the CDC has funded a poultry farming project run by the local youth association. The project has started to supply eggs to the mine, delivering income to the community.

Recognizing the importance and risks of any issue linked to TSFs, we also undertook extensive groundwater studies to understand the impact of seepage issues the government had previously raised concerns over. Using this knowledge, we compiled and are implementing both short and long-term plans to systematically reduce the amount of water on the TSF.

A SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY BUILT ON FOUR PILLARS

We believe that to succeed, the modern extractives sector must integrate environmental, social and economic considerations into all business decisions and deliver these through a responsible partnership with our stakeholders.

Our sustainability vision puts four key ambitions at the center of our business: creating economic benefits; protecting health & safety; respecting human rights; and minimizing our environmental impacts.

How we deliver on these ambitions is set out in our overarching Sustainable Development Policy, which commits us to support the socio-economic development of host countries and communities. During 2019, we adopted new policies covering Occupational Health and Safety, Environment, Social Performance and Human Rights, among others. All policies were drafted to meet or exceed the requirements of host country legislation and international standards such as the International Finance Corporation Performance Standards. We also updated our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (the Code), which sets out the ethical behavior expected of everyone working at, or with, Barrick.

To translate our sustainability ambitions into practical on the ground steps everyone can take, we have identified seven key sustainability principles. These guide our actions every day, at every site.

Juana Barcelo, Country Manager Dominican Republic, demonstrating her commitment to being a responsible steward of the environment.

OUR PRINCIPLES

We put safety first
Everyone at our mines, from a General Manager on a safety walk around, to employees exercising their Stop Unsafe Work Authority, is part of an organization-wide goal of continuous improvement towards a zero-harm workplace.

We conduct our business with integrity, transparency and fairness
Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics applies to all staff and contractors. We have zero tolerance of bribery and corruption in all forms. We transparently report on our sustainability performance and impacts.

We build and maintain genuine partnerships
We constantly work to form and maintain mutually beneficial and sustainable partnerships with our core stakeholders including governments, local communities, shareholders and suppliers.

We prioritize local hiring and buying
We build the skills and capacity of host country workers and vendors, to multiply our positive impact on local, regional and national economies.

We empower local communities
We invest in social and economic opportunities including education, water and healthcare and we form locally elected Community Development Committees to help host communities shape and deliver sustainable development on the ground.

We reduce our environmental impacts
Every site is expected to minimize energy and water use, manage waste and land safely and be a responsible steward of its natural environment.

We plan for closure at all stages
We rehabilitate our mine sites as we go and we invest in economic and environmental projects that can be sustained beyond the life of a mine.

ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

Barrick has facilitated the growth of markets around its mines, greatly stimulating economic opportunities for the local communities.

ALIGNED WITH GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

We work to catalyze local economic growth and community-led development around our mines. With around half of our operating mines in developing countries, it is a business model that naturally aligns with the ambitions of many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Some of our day-to-day activities that contribute to the achievement of the SDGs include:

Goal 1
Our mines help to significantly reduce poverty especially in remote areas by creating jobs, empowering local supply chains and by increasing access to basic services such as health, education and water.

Goal 2
Our closure planning often develops sustainable local agribusinesses to build food security. Our Morila, Loulo-Gounkoto, Tongon and Kibali mines all have agribusiness initiatives in progress and are home to thriving fish and poultry farms. These produce eggs, poultry, fruit and vegetables for sale in the local community and beyond.

Goal 3
We run dedicated occupational and community health programs to foster good health and well-being. This ranges from constructing and equipping clinics, to working with specialist NGOs to tackle HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and malaria, to onsite wellness campaigns and stop smoking programs.

Goal 4
We work to increase access to quality education across our global portfolio. This includes providing scholarships, building schools and providing support to improve teaching standards and school facilities. Our partnership with INFOTEP in the Dominican Republic has provided vocational training to more than 2,000 people, and our scholarship program with the Western Shoshone has funded more than 1,600 higher education scholarships.

Goal 5
We believe in a diverse and inclusive working environment. Our hiring policies are based on zero discrimination. In July 2019, our Pueblo Viejo mine started work to certify itself to Nordom 775 — the Dominican Republic’s standard for gender equality.

Goal 6
We recognize that access to water is a basic human right and work with local communities such as those in Papua New Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire and Democratic Republic of Congo to preserve and improve access to water and support clean water and sanitation around our mine sites.

Goal 8
Our mines are engines of work and economic growth and support thriving local economies. In 2019 we had more than 43,000 employees and contractors and generated over $9.3 billion of value through wages, procurement, and tax and royalty payments to government.

Goal 13
We have a long-term strategy for climate action with ambitious emission reduction targets and identified pathways for achievement. We draw several million gigajoules (GJ) of energy from renewable sources and this year began work to build a new solar power plant in Mali and progressed the conversion of the Quisqueya 1 power generation facility — a Heavy Fuel Oil power plant in Dominican Republic to cleaner burning natural gas.

Goal 17
We work in partnerships across the world, including with industry bodies such as the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) and the World Gold Council, to help lead collaborative efforts to achieve these global development goals.

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To run a world-class operation, you cannot simply focus on crushing, grinding and producing gold. I need to know there is a laser-like focus on safety, that environmental factors like water are effectively managed and that our local communities receive the benefits they deserve. Sustainability is not a support function nor is it a compliance exercise.

Compliance is a by-product of good corporate behavior, not a driver for it. The Nevada Gold Mines team takes pride in the way things are set up and operated from the pit to the plant.

On any given day I receive regular updates on sustainability matters. Any General Manager, or any employee for that matter, who thinks sustainability is optional or not a core part of our business has no place on our team or our industry. It is a critical area within our business and is key to our success.

— Greg Walker, Nevada Gold Mines

GOVERNANCE OF SUSTAINABILITY

We have mines and projects in 13 countries which span a range of climates and cultural contexts. Given the different social and environmental contexts of each mine, we believe sustainability management is best done at the mine-level. We have a devolved model that empowers each site to lead on sustainability issues including issues specific to the site, with oversight at the Executive and ultimately at the Board level.

Bottom up leadership

This means day-to-day ownership of sustainability risks and opportunities is in the hands of individual sites. Just as each site must manage its geological, operational and technical capabilities to meet our business objectives, it must also manage its own sustainability performance.

We pride ourselves on each mine’s operational excellence on social and environmental issues and link financial incentives for General Managers to their sustainability performance. Each mine has dedicated teams on site to manage areas such as health and safety, community engagement and development as well as energy efficiency and water management plans.

The work of each mine’s environmental, safety and community team is supported and supervised by Regional Health & Safety, Community, and Environment Leads, the Group Sustainability Executive and Regional Chief Operating Officers (COOs). Individual site teams also benefit from regular interaction with specialist leads for each global region in environment, health and safety as well as community engagement and development. The Group Sustainability Executive reports on sustainability-related issues to the Board on a quarterly basis.

GOLDEN RULES FOR RESPONSIBLE MINING

As we enter the third decade of the 21st Century, from money to mobile phones, gold has become an essential part of modern life. This has led consumer-facing companies in the electronics, automotive and other sectors to demand clear and transparent processes to show the gold they use has been produced responsibly.

To help the mining sector meet these requirements, and to clearly distinguish sustainable practices from irresponsible ones, industry associations such as the ICMM and the World Gold Council have been working to better define responsible mining. Barrick has been an active member of industry bodies throughout this work.

ICMM World Gold Council

One of the initiatives to help better define what mining with principles looks like in 2019, is the development of ICMM’s ‘Performance Expectations’. These seek to expand ICMM’s 10 high-level principles for sustainable development into a comprehensive set of environmental and social requirements. For example, this means translating a commitment to ‘Respect the interests and values of employees’ into an expectation that a mining firm will also pay employees wages that equal or exceed legal requirements or represent a competitive wage within that job market (whichever is higher).

Working with the World Gold Council, we have also been a member of the committee that produced the ground-breaking Responsible Gold Mining Principles (RGMPs), which were launched in September 2019. The RGMPs provide a new framework that aims to unite the gold mining sector behind common standards on sustainability performance. They set out clear expectations for consumers, investors and the downstream gold supply chain as to what constitutes responsible gold mining.

In 2019, we began to put these frameworks into practice by conducting gap assessments at pilot mines such as Kibali in the DRC to check how we are performing in line with the principles. We will continue to take this work further in 2020 to raise both our own standards and those of the mining industry at large.

ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIAL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

Our Environmental & Social Oversight Committee regularly brings representatives from all regions together to review our E&S performance and strategy.

The Committee meets four times a year to review sustainability performance across our operations. Committee discussions cover everything from specific and individual community grievances, to site level progress against concurrent rehabilitation targets or safety leadership interactions and progress on creating a safer and healthier workplace.

The minutes and action points of the Committee are reported to the Board’s Corporate Governance & Nominating Committee. By bringing executive and board level attention to key sustainability issues, we can identify concerns or opportunities at an early stage and thereby remedy them and drive continual improvements.

The E&S Oversight Committee is chaired by our President and Chief Executive Officer, and includes our Chief Operating Officers for each region, Group Sustainability Executive, Mine General Managers and Regional health, safety, environment and community leads.

We also receive input from an independent third party expert who is part of the Committee and conducts an on the ground review of each Tier One asset every year.

BOARD RESPONSIBILITY

Our Board of Directors and its committees oversee our sustainability activities as part of their stewardship of business strategy and risk management. The Corporate Governance & Nominating Committee helps the Board to oversee the company’s environmental, health and safety, corporate social responsibility, and human rights program, policies and performance. Four Independent Directors: Gustavo A Cisneros (Chairman), Christopher L Coleman, Brian L Greenspun and Loreto Silva sit on the committee.

Other Board-level committees with key roles in sustainability matters include the Audit & Risk Committee which assists the Board with regulatory compliance including in areas such as anti-corruption or ethical conduct. The Compensation Committee assists the Board with ensuring there is appropriate linkage between our sustainability performance and compensation.

Organogram of Sustainability Governance

RISK MANAGEMENT

Dealing with risk effectively is a source of sustainable business benefit and is an integral part of how we protect and create value. Our risk management processes also reflect our governance approach to connect site-level ownership of sustainability with group-level oversight and Board responsibility.

Each mine has an embedded site-level risk register, which they manage and update. The site-level risk register is based on guidance from the central Risk function, under the supervision of our Senior Vice President (SVP) of Business Assurance and Risk who reports to the Board’s Audit & Risk Committee. The guidance (including Risk Management Policies and Procedures) provided informs site-level risk registers and includes direction on how to consider the importance and impacts of sustainability risks such as safety, society and environment.

During 2019, we implemented new procedures in risk management to focus on a risk aware culture allowing risks to be managed within agreed thresholds in a proactive and effective manner. One update to our risk matrix in 2019 was to reinforce our zero-harm mentality, by reclassifying a single fatality to be just as significant a risk as multiple fatalities.

On a quarterly basis, the site-level risk registers are submitted by region for review by the Risk team to compile a quarterly risk report by the SVP Business Assurance and Risk to the Board’s Audit & Risk Committee. Presented in this report are the top risks for the group and for each region along with a global view of Strategic Priorities which includes a “Sustainable Profitability” section linked to the Sustainability priorities of the group and performance during the quarter against these priorities.

Our Risk team aggregates the results of all site-risk registers annually to update the Group Risk Register, overseen by our SVP of Business Assurance and Risk, and reviewed by the entire Executive Committee. The Group Risk Register is presented to the Board’s Audit & Risk Committee annually and for each risk identified includes: the inherent risk; detailed controls and monitoring activities to mitigate the risk; and a residual risk rating after mitigating activities. Sustainability risks considered in 2019 include Health and Safety, environmental management (including climate change), access to energy and water, mine closure and rehabilitation and regulatory compliance (including anti-corruption and human rights risks).

The Risk team actively monitors key controls such as energy, water and safety systems so they remain in place and are effective at all times. For example, when our Sustainability Executive reports safety data to the CEO, this is shared with the Risk team to analyze and provide this analysis along with progress attained or significant changes against previous performance to the Audit & Risk Committee. As part of our on-going risk management processes, we also conduct sensitivity analysis and stress tests to assess the potential impacts of, and any changes to, our key business risks. We also conduct a correlation analysis.

PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP

The gold we produce is either sold directly to or transported to refineries that make it into bullion, which our treasury department then sells to the market. The purchasing customers then take responsibility for its onward distribution for use in products such as jewelry, coins and electronics.

We take a risk-based approach to product stewardship and implement due diligence procedures so that our supply chain conforms to the World Gold Council’s Conflict-Free Gold Standard. As part of this approach, we do not purchase gold from artisanal or small-scale miners. We believe it is only through sector-wide collective action that the gold mining sector can create fully responsible supply chains and in 2019 we worked closely with the World Gold Council on the new Responsible Gold Mining Principles. This helps codify international best practices and expectations around responsible gold.

PRODUCING GOLD RESPONSIBLY

Barrick is committed to producing gold in a manner that does not cause, support or benefit unlawful armed conflict or contribute to serious human rights abuses or breaches of international law. We have implemented the World Gold Council’s Conflict-Free Gold Standard and report annually on our conformance with the Standard.

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

Underpinning all our governance of sustainability is a commitment to listen to our stakeholders and build their input into our decision-making. We want to build strong and lasting relationships, and that is only possible through regular, open, and honest communication. We consider a stakeholder to be any person or organization who is potentially impacted by our activities, or who can affect the success of our business.

We have identified eight strategically important stakeholder groups: host governments; local communities; employees; suppliers; shareholders; civil society organizations; joint venture partners; and the media.

Engagement methods vary for each group and are tailored at the group, regional, and site level. These range from presentations, mass meetings and town halls with our CEO and employees at the mine site to roadshows and one-on-one meetings with investors.

In Tanzania, North Mara’s Sustainable Communities Manager Richard Ojendo informs a local gathering about Barrick’s community development plans for the region.

Some of our stakeholder engagement in 2019 included:

Governments

In the DRC, alongside other mining companies, we engaged with the government regarding the new Mining Code. We also had specific discussions about a new potential agribusiness project for local communities. We also held discussions with the Ministry of Women as to how we can help support efforts against gender-based violence. In Mali and Tanzania, we ran several workshops on environmental best practice with government regulators to help build knowledge, share current best practice and improve communication channels.

Shareholders

The Group Sustainability Executive met with significant shareholders and leading ESG ratings firms to discuss Barrick’s sustainability vision, sustainability policies, site level sustainability performance, and approach to sustainability, including Board and management oversight of sustainability matters. Our Lead Director, Chair of the Compensation Committee, and Human Resources Executive participated in discussions with shareholders to provide an overview of the Board’s role in overseeing the company’s approach to sustainability and how sustainability performance is reflected in incentive compensation.

Communities

In the United States, following the creation of the Nevada Gold Mines joint venture with Newmont Corporation, our community team engaged with more than 1,300 stakeholders and conducted six site tours.

In Canada, at our Hemlo mine, the community team meets with local indigenous communities every six weeks to discuss mine plans and community issues or concerns. In 2019, much of this engagement focused on plans for a new TSF at the mine, the establishment of a formal community development committee, and the renegotiation of socio-economic benefits agreements.

In the Dominican Republic, we provide site tours and participatory monitoring programs for members of the local community every quarter.

Our President and CEO Mark Bristow hosts dinners for the local Chiefs, Mayors and community leaders at each of our mines on a regular basis. Our mine General Managers also meet with local community leaders at least every quarter.

Workers

We hold annual employee town halls at many of our mines, including the Nevada Gold Mines and our operations in Africa. The town halls provide an open forum for employees to directly engage with senior leadership. They are heavily attended and can last for up to five hours.

TRADE ASSOCIATIONS

Engaging With Inudstry

We are a member of trade associations who may engage with lawmakers on behalf of the entire industry. These engagements can range from discussions of mining laws to taxation to safety standards. Trade associations do not undertake specific lobbying for Barrick, but for the entire mining sector. A condition of our membership is that all lobbying activities carried out by these organizations must be compliant with all relevant regulations and any breaches must be reported to authorities as required.

As can be expected, we don’t always agree with all the positions taken by each association, and where that is the case, we aim to use our influence within the group to push for change. Our relationship with each trade association is managed by the relevant country manager.

Elko residents in Nevada, USA, are updated on developments and ask questions at a town hall meeting arranged by Barrick.

MATERIALITY ASSESSMENT

In 2019, we expanded our materiality investigation and used a software tool powered by data driven high-performance computing to improve the robustness of our materiality assessment and better understand our sustainability risks and opportunities. By using a tool that analyzed millions of data points from publicly available sources we were able to build a more useful, robust and evidence-based materiality matrix to enhance sustainability decision-making and reporting.

Sources utilized as part of this work included:

Corporate and sustainability reports covering the entire mining industry
Mandatory and voluntary regulations in the countries where we operate
Information from hundreds of new sources and online reports regarding Barrick or our mines, and
Social media activity

We supplemented these sources with information from our corporate risk and site registers, analysis of community grievances received across the group, topics raised in engagement with stakeholders, and our overall sustainability strategy. Sources were weighted according to relevance, with greater weighting given to the reports of our industry peers and the regulations of our host countries, and lesser weighting attributed to social media.

The results were further validated by a survey sent to our executives, the senior management team and our mine general managers, which asked them to rank the issues based on impact to and of Barrick as a business and beyond.

The results of the process have been used to inform the content of this report. We have also incorporated these results in the development of our ESG scorecard, which we will use to understand our relative performance against our peers and determine the sustainability portion of our remuneration packages. This process identified the following as high priority sustainability issues in 2019:

Long-term and local value creation
Community engagement
Ethical business conduct
Responsible tailings management
Occupational health and safety
Climate change
Water management
Biodiversity

How we manage, and our performance on these issues is reported in full in this report and its associated data tables.

A herd of American Pronghorn Antelope in Cresent Valley near the Cortez mine in Nevada, USA. Barrick’s mines are located in remote regions of the world and its Biodiversity Action Plans are aimed at conserving the environment’s natural state.

MATERIALITY ASSESSMENT RESULTS

LINKING OUR PERFORMANCE TO REMUNERATION

Sustainability is a core component of our business and all employees, including our President and CEO and members of the Executive Committee, are held to account for achieving our company-wide sustainability target through their incentive compensation scorecards.

Long-term incentives for the President and CEO, members of the Executive Committee, and other senior leaders as part of the Partnership Plan are tied to key measures that reflect our license to operate across the world. These measures include our safety performance, compliance record with respect to the environment, human rights, and anti-corruption, as well as our stakeholder and community relations.

In 2019, sustainability performance accounted for 15% of these long-term incentive awards. For 2020, the weighting for sustainability performance will increase to 25% to reinforce the belief that our ability to operate successfully is acutely dependent on our ability to deliver long-term value to all our stakeholders and to proactively manage our impact on the wider environment. Sustainability performance is also assessed as part of annual performance incentive compensation and short-term incentive compensation. For other incentive eligible leaders within the organization, sustainability performance accounts for 25% of their short-term incentives.

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Acting as a trustworthy partner to our stakeholders is the principle that underpins our business. When you go into partnership with someone you have to trust them. That’s why being a responsible company that values exemplary conduct is absolutely critical to Barrick.

— Mark Bristow, President and CEO

DOING BUSINESS IN AN ETHICAL MANNER

Building and maintaining the genuine partnerships we seek with our host governments, communities and shareholders means staying true to our company values and complying with the law. Protecting ourselves from — and taking a stance against – corruption, bribery and fraud is one of our sustainability principles and a foundational value. Every site we operate, every director, every employee and every third party we work with, are subject to our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.

Commitments Against Corruption

We work to achieve these commitments through our anti-corruption compliance program. We have zero-tolerance for bribery and corruption. This is codified in our Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Policy as well as our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, and we build anti-corruption protections into our business processes to minimize and mitigate bribery risks, both real and apparent.

The program includes:

Training: We train all new employees on the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics during onboarding. Certain identified employees, such as country executive directors or community relations officers who have interaction with governments and the local community, receive enhanced online live training. All fulltime employees are required to undergo an online annual refresher training with a goal of over 90% completion. In 2019, the global average completion rate was 92%. In addition, at least 90% of Barrick’s government-exposed employees received live training. Meeting the 90% target is part of the annual executive remuneration scorecard.
Risk assessments: Depending on its risk profile, each site is assessed on an at least a threeyear cycle for corruption risks. This includes conducting a self-assessment under supervision of compliance staff. Sites identified as high risk by our compliance function may be reviewed by an independent external assessor. In 2019, we conducted one formal risk assessment at Veladero in Argentina. Internal and external risk assessments are overseen by the SVP Business Assurance Risk who reports to the Board’s Audit & Risk Committee on all compliance matters.
Reporting: We expect and actively encourage all workers to speak up and report any incidents where a possible Code of Business Conduct and Ethics violation may have occurred, including any suspicions of bribery or corruption. Anyone, including contractors and community members, at any time can anonymously report a concern via the web or by phone using our third-party run ethics hotline (available in a number of languages including English, Spanish and French). We have zero tolerance for retaliation for reports made in good faith, by anyone, regardless of their level or position. On a quarterly basis, we report on the cases that come into the ethics hotline to our Board’s Audit & Risk Committee. We also report trends and summary data to our regional management teams and our executive committee to encourage discussion and awareness of potential compliance risks affecting our business. We may also include recommended process improvements for discussion and implementation. In 2019, we created a Government Interactions Registry for employees to submit basic details of any meetings or other interactions with government officials. This will be rolled out in 2020.
Minimizing risk: To reduce the potential for corruption, our personnel only accept gifts from actual or potential business partners where doing so will not be seen to impair our ability to perform our duties in a fair and unbiased manner. Our high-risk transaction review process enables employees to submit details of meals, gifts, entertainment and any other support provided to, or received from business partners, suppliers, contractors or government officials. All employees are required to follow the provisions set out in our Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Policy.
Protecting the chain: Our anti-corruption policies and procedures also apply to our vendors and are reinforced by our Supplier Code of Ethics. We undertake risk based anti-corruption due diligence as part of onboarding for vendors and potential vendors including companies, service providers and civil society groups. All standard contracts have a mandatory clause requiring them to comply with Barrick’s anti-corruption policies. These contracts also grant Barrick the ability to execute audit rights over a vendor. Barrick also provides live training to flagged, high-risk vendors in high-risk jurisdictions.

Since we obtained control in September 2019, our North Mara, Bulyanhulu and Buzwagi mines in Tanzania have been transitioned on to our global hotline, had our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics rolled out to employees and we have conducted additional training on our anti-corruption policies and processes targeted at specific functions of the business to make sure they are understood and appropriately integrated on site. In 2020, a risk assessment will be performed, and our global compliance program will be extended to the Tanzanian operations based on the results of the risk assessment.

Our anti-corruption compliance program is overseen by our SVP, Business Assurance and Risk who reports to the Board’s Audit & Risk Committee on all compliance matters.

We treat all breaches of the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics seriously. All reported breaches are assessed, and investigations are conducted as appropriate. Breaches of the Code can result in disciplinary or corrective actions from additional training, up to and including termination of employment or contract and, if appropriate, referral to the relevant authorities. By monitoring and tracking cases reported, we can identify potential trends and take action, such as additional training at a site or function level to reduce the risk of recurrence.

WHISTLEBLOWING REPORTS RECEIVED

All Barrick employees are required to comply to the Code of Conduct.

POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS

In general, we do not make financial contributions to politicians or political parties, except on a limited basis as allowed by local regulations. In 2019, our only political contributions were in the US. Every donation complied with applicable federal, state and municipal laws. Our contributions are made either directly by the company at the state level or by our companysponsored political action committee on the federal level.

Employee contributions to Barrick USA Employees Political Action Committee (PAC) are voluntary and are separate from those made by the company. Our total political contributions in the US in 2019 were a combined $20,000 made by Barrick and Nevada Gold Mines to Governor Sisolak (NV), and $24,500 made via the Barrick USA Employees PAC.

Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak on a site inspection of the Nevada Gold Mines, USA, in 2019.

BUILDING LOCAL ECONOMIES

We have invested in and developed agribusiness initiatives at many of our mines. These initiatives help diversify local economies, build local capacity, and are an important part of our social closure planning.

Reports & Policies

Social & Economic Development

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Sustainability Report 2019 (PDF)

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