Human Rights and Our Employees

We believe that all our employees are to be treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to providing equal opportunity for all of our employees and contractors. We are also committed to preventing human rights infringements in our workforce, ranging from all forms of forced and compulsory labour and child labour, to racial and gender discrimination. Our commitment to these human rights led Barrick to become a signatory to the UN Global Compact in 2005. Barrick is also a member of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (the Voluntary Principles) and all our security personnel are trained in the Principles (see the Society section for more information on the Voluntary Principles).

Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics includes information on formal reporting channels and on our confidential Compliance Hotline and encourages employees to express concerns regarding ethical issues and to report human rights violations.

Discrimination

Discrimination involves the act of treating a person unequally on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, political opinion, nationality, or social origin. At Barrick, we believe that every individual must be accorded equal treatment and that everyone in the company is responsible for ensuring that the workplace is free from all forms of discrimination, harassment and retaliation.

Our People – Going Above And Beyond

Lincoyán Roco Sánchez, Mechanical Specialist at Zaldívar, Chile

Volunteering to help those in need is a way of life for Lincoyán.

Lincoyán is a founding member and current President of the Zaldívar Pro-Assistance Workers’ Association, “Antonio Franco,” which provides volunteers and fund-raising support for ASONIPAC, a local NGO that helps parents of children suffering from cerebral palsy and autism in the communities of Antofagasta and La Serena, Chile. These families have no other access to medical treatment for their children. Lincoyán dedicates his personal time to motivate and organize 240 employees from Zaldivar and other local companies to support teachers and therapists with the program, and to oversee the maintenance of facilities. The Association also supports the Sirenita Kindergarten in La Serena by improving safety conditions and risk prevention in their facilities. In 2010, Lincoyán led the establishment of a special therapy facility for autistic children in a school in La Serena, and he organized the Children’s Day Celebration, a very successful fundraiser for ASONIPAC. He also volunteered extensively in the campaign to help the town of Lipimavida after the February 2010 earthquake in Chile.

The company is committed to fair employment practices and a workplace in which all individuals are treated with dignity and respect. We will not tolerate discrimination. The company expects that all relationships among employees in the workplace will be professional and free of bias and harassment. We are committed to ensuring that both the letter and the spirit of the law are recognized with respect to promoting equal opportunity in the workplace and ensuring all persons [both employees and potential employees] are treated based on their merit.

Merit is the basis upon which decisions affecting employment and career development are made. The fundamental criteria are work performance, qualifications, competence, abilities, skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the job.

Any employee, supervisor, or manager who is found, after appropriate investigation, to have engaged in unlawful discrimination, victimization, or harassment of another employee will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action, which depending on the circumstances, may include dismissal. In all cases, the action will be designed to ensure that there is no repetition of the conduct.

Information meetings at our mine sites keep our employees informed.

Freedom of Association

The International Finance The International Finance Corporation [IFC] defines “freedom of association” as the right of employees to join organizations without prior authorization. We respect the rights of our employees to freedom of association and collective bargaining. This means that each Barrick employee has the right to join a labour organization or labour union. We have a number of facilities around the world with unions and/or bargaining associations. We have worked, and continue to work, closely with these groups to develop and manage effective labour relations programs.

We uphold our employees’ right to freedom of association at all of our sites, therefore there are no significant risks to our employees regarding freedom of association. In 2010, approximately 33 percent of our employees were covered by collective bargaining agreements at 17 sites.

Child Labour

The IFC defines “child labour” as employment of children that is economically exploitive, likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or likely to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social development.

The legal age at which young people may work varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Barrick does not knowingly employ a person who is under the legal age of employment, or where that employment would contravene the IFC definition of child labour. Barrick’s minimum age for employment is 18, therefore there are no significant risks to our employees regarding child labour.

Our most significant contribution to the effective abolition of child labour is our global investments in education, such as our partnerships in the Atacama Commitment and the Intel/Cisneros Foundation Class 21 program in Chile, and our community infrastructure development projects that support schools, community centers and recreational areas.

Forced Labour

The IFC defines “forced and compulsory labour” as all work or service, not voluntarily performed, which is extracted from an individual under threat of force or penalty. This includes bonded or indentured labour or similar coerced labour arrangements. Barrick does not engage in any type of forced or compulsory labour. There were no incidents of forced or compulsory labour at our operations in 2010.