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Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) said in a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday that allegations of human rights violations at its North Mara gold mine in Tanzania were “replete with misconceptions and inaccuracies.”
The UNHRC had sent a letter to Barrick (GOLD) in April, saying it had received information about allegations of killings, assault, torture, sexual abuse and others, committed by security forces and private security contractors at the mine.
UNHRC’s letter to Barrick (GOLD) had said “12 deaths which allegedly occurred during/resulting from operations by security forces assigned to the mine. Of these, six have been allegedly the result of Barrick operations.”
“The authors of the letter presented allegations as facts and had used inaccurate and outdated information from international human rights NGOs which Barrick thoroughly refuted at the time they were published,” the company said.
Barrick (GOLD) said the UNHRC working groups did not conduct site visits or engage with Tanzanian authorities.
“By publicly sharing uninformed and unsubstantiated allegations that had already been publicly corrected before allowing us to respond with factual information, to selected stakeholders, they have risked causing harm to our business, our local partners and stakeholders,” Barrick (GOLD) said.
