Our Approach

Our Strategy

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.

Barrick is a new Company. It is the product of a merger between two legacy firms – Barrick and Randgold – both of whom successfully integrated sustainability into the heart of their practices, processes and operations. While this provides us with a great starting point, we are acutely aware of the challenges of bringing two Companies together and of ensuring we deliver on our sustainability goals.

We want to be clear about Barrick’s sustainability goals. That is why one of our first acts post-merger was to define a corporate vision for what we want our sustainability activity to achieve. Our mines should create long-term value for all our stakeholders, including our investors, our host countries and communities and our employees.

That means we help remote neighborhoods like Durba in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) transform into thriving economies capable of supporting their region long after our mine closes. It means we invest in academic infrastructure including the new Winnemucca Medical and Science building in the US. It means we rehabilitate the contamination (from previous operators) of the Dominican Republic’s Margajita River to make it safe for communities and aquatic life.

The vision, policies and principles that frame our strategy

Our vision identifies four key ambitions for our sustainability activity: To create economic benefits, protect health and safety, respect human rights and minimize our environmental impacts.

Our approach to achieving these four ambitions is set out in a new overarching Sustainable Development Policy, which commits us to supporting the socio-economic development of host countries and communities. We have also published refreshed policies in the areas of Community Development and Engagement, Occupational Health and Safety , Environment and Human Rights. All policies meet or exceed the requirements of host country legislation and international standards such as the IFC Performance Standards or UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights¹. Our updated Code of Conduct sets out the ethical behavior expected of everyone working at, or with, Barrick.

Global economic contributions and workforce

Our Sustainability performance snapshot

Our Sustainability targets and objectives

Governance of sustainability

To implement the vision, policies and principles that constitute our sustainability framework, we have allocated responsibilities for sustainability across the organization.

At Barrick the Board of Directors is responsible for the stewardship of the Company and for the supervision of the management of the business and affairs of the Company. Our commitment to sustainability therefore starts at Board level.

The Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee directly supports the Board in overseeing our activity on environmental management, health and safety and human rights programs, policies and performance. This includes reviewing and assessing the effectiveness of Barrick’s corporate social responsibility and security policies and standards. It is comprised of three independent directors: Gustavo A Cisneros (Chairman), Christopher L Coleman and Brian L Greenspun.

Doing business in an ethical manner

Being a responsible Company means upholding the highest ethical standards and complying with all applicable laws and regulations, industry practices and international norms. Falling below this standard endangers the trusted and constructive relationships on which our success depends and threatens our social license to operate.

At the core of our policy framework is our updated Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (the Code). The Code was updated to fit with the expanded Group in 2019. The Code sets out the ethical behavior expected of all employees, contractors and third-party vendors. It covers all the operations in the expanded Group. The Board, in its role as the steward of the Company, oversees the Code as well as the systems and processes that have been adopted to implement it throughout our Company.

Government affairs

Host Governments are essential partners to our business. From exploration to construction, operation and closure, our activities are significantly impacted by the political and regulatory environments of our host countries.

Barrick believes in true partnership with our host countries, sharing both the responsibilities and the benefits that come with mining. Our Sustainable Development Policy commits us to support socio-economic development as an integral part of our contribution to local communities and host countries and to be transparent in our relationships with them, the public and other key stakeholders. In turn, we ask Governments to provide clear rules and a stable operating regime in which we can do business.

Barrick’s CEO, our regional Chief Operating Officers and local Country Managers work to build constructive relationships with local and national Governments on Barrick’s behalf. In general, we do not contribute funding to politicians or political parties, except on a limited basis as allowed by local regulations. In 2018, the only political contributions made by either of the legacy Companies were for a total of $19,500 in Zambia for a presidential lunch and agricultural show and $192,000 in donations to campaigns of both parties in Nevada.