Biodiversity and Land Use

Barrick operates on five continents, from near sea level to over 4,000 meters above sea level, and our lands include a wide variety of ecosystems. We are committed to conserving and managing these lands, and the many varieties of plant and animal life that inhabit them, by working in consultation with local communities, regulators and environmental NGOs. Our sites worldwide are engaged in efforts to protect, manage and reclaim lands with a focus on enhancing the environment.

Managing Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

An ecosystem is the dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit. Swamps, deserts, coral reefs and forests are all examples of ecosystems. Ecosystem services are the functions of ecosystems that provide benefits to people, such as fresh water, raw materials, climate regulation and recreational services. Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is the variability and diversity among living organisms (within species and between species) and the ecosystems where they live. Biodiversity has both intrinsic value and it has value to people in its role ensuring the functioning of ecosystems and their ability to provide ecosystem services. Biodiversity allows ecosystems to maintain oxygen in the air, enrich the soil, provide a habitat for plants, animals and people, protect against storm damage and regulate the climate.

Human caused biodiversity loss is an issue of global concern and we are committed to actively contributing to conservation and biodiversity protection. Our mining activities create impacts on biodiversity. To develop a mine we remove both vegetation and topsoil. To access the ore we dig large open pits or access underground ore bodies through tunnelling. We construct waste rock storage areas, heap leach facilities and tailings storage impoundments and dams. We also use large amounts of water in processing, sourcing it from rivers, lakes and aquifers.

Therefore, by developing a mine, we impact the biodiversity of the immediate areas around our operation. However, careful planning at our operations, as required by our EMS, aims to minimize impacts during mining. Minimizing our impacts involves a number of activities, such as stockpiling topsoil, establishing nurseries to grow local plant species, preventing animals from entering the active part of a mining operation, undertaking erosion control, treating water prior to returning it to the environment and practicing concurrent reclamation (where, during operations, we reclaim disturbed lands once we are no longer mining them). Our goal is to mitigate long-term impacts on biodiversity, and to leave behind (upon closure) restored lands that will support productive post-mining land uses. It is not usually possible to restore a mine site exactly as it was prior to mining, but it is possible to restore a healthy, thriving ecosystem.

Barrick has implemented controls at our operations to safeguard wildlife from mine processes and chemical exposure. These controls include barriers such as fencing and netting, the use of ‘bird balls’ and other covers for ponds and tanks, as well as cyanide destruction processes at some operations. Each year, in spite of these controls, a number animals and birds do manage to come into contact with process solutions at a few of our sites. See our Wildlife Mortality table for a description of these incidents.

At many sites, we have projects specifically designed to protect rare or significant plant and animal life; at others, habitat enhancement projects are underway. Where possible, we implement native seed collection and soil management projects prior to mine development. Barrick has also established nurseries at a number of sites to grow local plant species for reforestation and revegetation during operations and once mining is complete. For example, at the Pueblo Viejo project in the Dominican Republic, we are working with locally and internationally renowned scientists to protect several frog species that have been identified on the project site.

Barrick’s Biodiversity Standard, developed in 2009, formalizes our stewardship activities and environmental management strategy. It requires us to integrate biodiversity into project planning and decision-making, to assess the direct and indirect impacts of new projects (and expansions of existing projects) on ecosystem services, to design projects that avoid potentially significant impacts on biodiversity, to exploit opportunities to protect and enhance biodiversity, to consult with stakeholders and to engage in partnerships that address scientific and practical challenges relating to biodiversity protection or enhancement. The Standard applies from exploration through mine closure and requires the application of the mitigation hierarchy: where significant impacts to biodiversity cannot be avoided, sites minimize, mitigate or compensate with the goal of no net loss to biodiversity. The Standard is now being implemented across the company. In 2011, several operations participated in a pilot project designed to test the Standard’s Implementation Guidance. The goal of the pilot project was to determine if the Guidance section of the Standard is an effective tool to allow our operations to fully implement the Standard. The pilot project is still underway and the Guidance document is undergoing final revision. It will be introduced to our operations, along with conservation data tools and training, in 2012.

Specific biodiversity strategies and programs have already been implemented at operations where biodiversity has been identified as an important or material issue. We have specific programs at Bulyanhulu, Cowal, Goldstrike, KCGM, Lagunas Norte, Pierina, Plutonic, Tulawaka and Veladero. Additionally, all our sites have procedures in place to protect wildlife and sensitive habitats.

IUCN Red Listed Species

The International Union for Conservation of Nature is a non-profit organization that is committed to providing the world with objective, scientifically-based information on the current status of globally threatened plants and animals. The main purpose of the IUCN Red List is to catalogue and highlight those plants and animals that are facing a high risk of global extinction and those plants and animals that are close to meeting the threatened thresholds. Since 2008, Barrick’s environmental professionals have been identifying plants and animals located on or near our mine sites and projects that are included on the IUCN Red List. Barrick’s recent use of additional conservation data tools is now providing easier access to the Red List for our operations and projects.

In 2011, we identified 86 species on the Red List. The categories ranged from those of least concern (40 species) to those endangered / critically endangered (nine species: one plant and two amphibians in the Dominican Republic and five plants and one amphibian in Peru). In most cases, protection of these species is addressed in the Environmental Impact Assessments / Environmental Impact Statements for our sites. In all cases, they are protected from the impacts of mining through the environmental management systems in place at our operations.

Land Management and Protected Areas

Barrick manages large areas of land, either owned or leased (including surface rights and/or mineral rights). Only a small percentage of this land – less than 1.5 percent – has been disturbed for mining activities. The rest is left in its natural state or utilized for agriculture and livestock grazing. In 2011, Barrick began developing plans to improve wildlife habitat and livestock forage on our extensive landholding in Nevada.

World Heritage sites are properties having outstanding universal cultural or natural value which have been identified by the World Heritage Committee. Members of the Committee are elected from the countries that are Parties to the World Heritage Convention (established by UNESCO). We have one operation located near a World Heritage site: the North Mara mine is located 20 kilometres west of the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Barrick’s Biodiversity Standard requires that we neither explore nor initiate mining within World Heritage sites and that we respect the requirements of legally designated protected areas.

The Veladero mine is located within the multi-use area of the San Guillermo Man and Biosphere Reserve (San Guillermo MAB) in Argentina. The San Guillermo MAB, comprising 990,000 hectares, is one of the Andes Mountain’s most sensitive and pristine natural areas, a thriving ecological micro-region, home to diverse migrating species such as condors, vicuñas, lamas, pumas, flamencos and many others. This reserve is a UNESCO-protected site and is managed in Argentina by the National Park Service. The multi-use area in a MAB is a place where UNESCO seeks to reconcile conservation and cultural diversity with economic and social development through partnerships between people and nature. Mining is one of the many human uses permitted in the multi-use area of the San Guillermo MAB.

Barrick supports the creation of a management plan for the San Guillermo MAB, which is an important requirement to maintain biosphere reserve status according to the UNESCO principles. Barrick will create a $7.5 million fund to support monitoring and controls within the Reserve, and will develop a Biodiversity Offset Program to address any losses to biodiversity resulting from project impacts. The offset program will include research initiatives to target species and / or ecosystems of conservation concern in the region based on the results of biodiversity assessments.

We also have operations located in areas identified as having sensitive habitats, including sage grouse and Lahontan trout habitat in the western United States, high Andes habitat in Argentina, Kapoche forest habitat in Tanzania and the Lake Cowal wetland habitat in Australia. Our employees are mindful of their responsibility to protect these sensitive habitats.

As an example of Barrick’s commitment to the environment, in 2011 Barrick donated $100,000 to help fund a major habitat restoration project located near the Bald Mountain mine in the Ruby Mountains of Nevada. The 1,400 hectare project will be coordinated by state and federal environmental departments along with the nearby Goicoechea Ranches. These partners will thin and remove pinion and juniper trees that have encroached into sagebrush habitat that is crucial to mule deer and sage grouse. By thinning and removing the trees in key areas, sagebrush and other browse species, as well as forbs and other grasses, will create nesting and brood rearing habitat for sage grouse and browse for mule deer.

Biodiversity Projects in the Dominican Republic

Before construction commenced at our Pueblo Viejo project in the Dominican Republic (DR), a survey of the area identified 193 native species of plants, including six protected species. Barrick has created a nursery to propagate these plant species, including the protected species. The plants are now being transplanted and relocated around the site. As well, almost 320,000 palm trees have been moved as part of an environmental site plan that includes species recovery and habitat protection and research. Significant reforestation around the property is underway, with more than 2,000 native trees being reintroduced monthly. Soil and erosion management are carefully planned to factor in rainfall, which can reach up to two meters annually in the area. After soil preparation and the planting of native seeds, the slopes around the operation are covered with coconut mats, which adhere and adapt to the terrain. They help retain moisture and then biodegrade and become compost, further enriching the soil.

Barrick is funding a biodiversity project to preserve and study several tree frog species in the Dominican Republic.

Barrick is funding a biodiversity project to preserve and study several tree frog species in the DR. We are spending over $2 million on the project, which began in 2008 after we determined that several tree frog species would be impacted by our Pueblo Viejo project. Two of the tree frog species are classified as endangered by the IUCN, while a third is listed as vulnerable. The biodiversity project includes several components that will help preserve the frogs and also build capacity in the DR about how to protect tree frogs and other amphibians. A captive breeding program is one component that will allow researchers, which include Barrick employees, to collect valuable information on frogs from the impacted region. The project also includes surveys to help researchers understand the living patterns of the tree frogs.

Barrick’s goal is to protect the environment and wildlife around Pueblo Viejo.

Mine Closure and the Environment

A key component of our commitment to environmental protection is mine closure planning. All our operations have closure plans in place and budgets have been developed for concurrent reclamation, along with money put aside for final reclamation after closure.

Barrick developed a Mine Closure Standard in 2009 to promote closure of our properties in a manner that is timely and cost-effective, to demonstrate our commitment to sustainable resource management and responsibility and to provide a basis for continual improvement for all Barrick properties. All our operations have reclamation plans in place which cover the environmental aspects of closure. These plans are produced during the initial project planning and design of each site. They are reviewed and updated during operations to ensure that environmental effects are addressed and financial obligations are satisfied. Barrick has also developed corporate guidance for closure cost estimation in an effort to lead the industry in accurately estimating closure costs.

During operations, when possible, disturbed areas are contoured and revegetated after they are no longer required for active mining (this is known as concurrent reclamation). At closure, in order to return the remaining disturbed land to a stable state for post-mining land use, we remove, relocate, demolish or transfer ownership of buildings and physical infrastructure; close pits and shafts; stabilize underground workings; treat tailings and process waters appropriately; and slope, contour, cap or cover, and revegetate our waste rock facilities, leach pads and tailings impoundments. We also protect water resources and other environmental media to the extent necessary. The post-mining land use may differ from its prior condition and is the result of negotiation and agreement among various parties including governments, communities and our operations.

Barrick has taken a leading role in the design and construction of evaporative covers for both waste rock facilities and tailings impoundments, and has also won awards for its reclamation activities.

The total area of land owned, leased or managed by Barrick’s operations increased in 2011 due to the acquisition of the Equinox properties, and totalled approximately four million hectares at the end of 2011. Of this land, 63,500 hectares (or only 1.5 percent) have been disturbed over the years by our operations. At the end of 2011, 34,600 hectares were disturbed for active mining and 28,900 hectares had been reclaimed (rehabilitated) to the agreed post-mining land use.