Glossary

Anti-Competitive Behaviour: Anti-competitive practices are business or government practices that prevent or reduce competition in a market.

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM): A distinction is made between artisanal mining which may involve only individuals and families using labour-intensive, pre-industrial techniques, and small-scale mining which may be more extensive and more mechanized. They both share some or all of the following characteristics: exploration of small or marginal deposits, low capital input, labour-intensive, poor access to markets and support services, low standards of occupational health and safety, and significant environmental impact.

Basic salary: A fixed amount paid to an employee for performing his / her duties. This does not include any additional remuneration such as that based on years of service, overtime work, bonuses, benefits payments, or any additional allowances (e.g. transportation allowances).

Biodiversity: The variability among living organisms and the ecosystems of which they are part – this includes diversity within species, between species and within ecosystems.

By-product: A secondary metal or mineral product, such as silver found with gold ore, recovered in the milling process.

Capacity building: Activities and initiatives which strengthen the knowledge and skills of individuals and improve structure and processes such that communities can grow and develop in a sustainable way.

Collective bargaining agreement: Agreements between one or more representative workers’ organizations, or, in absence of such organizations, the representatives of the workers duly elected and authorized by them in accordance with national laws and regulations.

Corporate Social Responsibility: Corporate Social Responsibility is the commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development – working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve the quality of life, in ways that are both good for business and good for development.

Corruption: ‘The abuse of entrusted power for private gain’…this includes such corrupt practices as bribery, fraud, extortion, collusion, conflict of interest, and money laundering. In this context, it includes an offer or receipt of any gift, loan, fee, reward, or other advantage to or from any person as an inducement to something that is dishonest, illegal, or a breach of trust in the conduct of the enterprise’s business. This may include gifts other than money, such as free goods and holidays, or special personal services provided for the purpose of, or liable to result in, an improper advantage or that may result in moral pressure to receive such an advantage.

Discrimination: The act and the result of treating a person unequally by imposing unequal burdens or denying benefits rather than treating the person fairly on the basis of individual merit. Discrimination can also include harassment, defined as a course of comments or actions that are unwelcome, or should reasonably be known to be unwelcome, to the person towards whom they are addressed.

Doré: Gold extracted from ore during processing is melted into doré bars containing up to 90 percent gold. The other 10 percent contain metals such as silver or copper. Doré bars are usually sent to an external refinery to be refined to bars of 999.9 parts-per-thousand pure gold.

Ecosystem services: The benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning services such as food and water; regulating services such as flood and disease control; cultural services such as spiritual, recreational, and cultural benefits; and supporting services, such as nutrient cycling, that maintain the conditions for life on Earth.

Environmental protection expenditures: All expenditures on environmental protection by the reporting organization, or on its behalf, to prevent, reduce, control, and document environmental aspects, impacts, and hazards. It also includes disposal, treatment, sanitation, and clean-up expenditures.

Forced or compulsory labour: All work and services which are exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the person has not offered her / himself voluntarily (ILO Convention 29, Forced Labour Convention). The most extreme examples are slave labour, prison labour, and bonded labour, but debts can also be used as a means of maintaining workers in a state of forced labour. Withholding identity papers, requiring compulsory deposits, or compelling workers, under threat of firing, to work extra hours to which they have not previously agreed, are all examples of forced labour.

Freedom of association: Workers and employees may establish and join organizations of their own choosing without the need for prior authorization.

Governance bodies: The committees or boards responsible for the strategic guidance of the organization, the effective monitoring of management, and the accountability of management to the broader organization and its stakeholders.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Gaseous emissions to the atmosphere that contribute to climate change. Direct emissions are from sources owned by the company or operated on our properties. Indirect emissions are from sources not owned by us, but occur as a result of our activities (purchased electricity).

Human rights: A human right is a right to which all human beings are entitled. These rights are internationally defined and recognized, and identified in international conventions such as the International Bill of Human Rights.

ICMM: The International Council on Mining and Metals. ICMM was established in 2001 to act as a catalyst for performance improvement. Today, the Council brings together 19 mining and metals companies, as well as 30 national and regional mining associations and global commodity associations. ICMM’s activities are aimed at strengthening performance and enhancing our contribution to sustainable development.

IFC: International Finance Corporation. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, fosters sustainable economic growth in developing countries by financing private sector investment, mobilizing capital in the international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments. The goal of the IFC is to improve lives, especially for the people who most need the benefits of growth.

Indigenous Peoples: There is no universally accepted definition of “Indigenous Peoples”. Indigenous Peoples may be referred to in different countries by such terms as “Indigenous ethnic minorities,” “aboriginals,” “hill tribes,” “minority nationalities,” “scheduled tribes,” “first nations,” or “tribal groups.”  “Indigenous Peoples” is used in a generic sense to refer to a distinct social and cultural group possessing the following characteristics in varying degrees:

• self-identification as indigenous
• historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies
• a common experience of colonialism and oppression
• occupation of or a strong link to specific territories
• distinct social, economic and political systems
• distinct language, culture and beliefs
• from non-dominant sectors of society
• resolved to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and distinctive identities.

IUCN Red Listed Species: The IUCN Red List is a global list of threatened plants and animals provided by the International Union of Conservation of Nature.

Joint venture: The partnership of two or more companies in a specific operation, each agreeing to share (according to ownership percentage) profit or loss. Operational control often depends on ownership percentage.

Lobbying: Refers to efforts to persuade or influence persons holding political office, or candidates for such office, to sponsor policies, and / or to influence the development of legislation or political decisions. This can relate to lobbying governments at any level.

No net loss: The application of mitigation measures (such as biodiversity offsets) that should achieve measurable conservation outcomes and that can reasonably be expected to result in no net loss of biodiversity.

Occupational disease: A disease arising from the work situation or activity (e.g. stress or regular exposure to harmful chemicals), or from a work-related injury.

Open pit: A mine where the minerals are mined entirely from the surface.

Post closure land use: The condition of a mine property after the cessation of all mining and mine closure activities relative to the activities that the property can then support (e.g. wildlife habitat, agriculture, etc.).

Protected area: A geographically defined area that is designated, regulated, or managed to achieve specific conservation objectives.

Public policy development: Organized or coordinated activities to effect government policy formation.
Reclamation: The process by which lands disturbed as a result of mining activity are modified to support beneficial land use once mining is complete. Reclamation activities may include the removal of buildings, and other physical remnants of mining, closure of tailings storage facilities, leach pads and other mine facilities, and contouring, covering, and revegetating disturbed areas.

Regulatory action: Written directives from a regulatory agency specifying that existing conditions must be corrected. Due to varying degrees of regulatory oversight, a common definition of regulatory action is used by Barrick for consistent reporting purposes.

Renewable energy: Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly. This includes electricity and heat generated from solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, biofuels, and hydrogen derived from renewable resources.

Riparian: An area around a stream or another watercourse which has distinctive vegetation and other characteristics which separate it from the land beyond the riparian zone. Healthy riparian zones provide a variety of important ecosystem services and they are often important habitats for wildlife.

Security personnel: Individuals employed for the purpose of guarding the property of an organization, crowd control, loss prevention, and escorting persons, goods, and valuables.

Significant impact: An impact that may adversely affect the integrity of a geographical area / region, either directly or indirectly. This occurs by substantially changing the ecological features, structures, and functions across the whole area and over the long term. This means that the habitat, its population level, and/or the particular species that make the habitat important cannot be sustained.

Social inclusion: The active or demonstrable engagement with disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.

Turnover: Number of employees who leave the organization voluntarily or due to dismissal, retirement, or death in service.

World Heritage Sites: World Heritage Sites are a list of sites (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) maintained by the international World Heritage Program and administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. The program catalogues, names and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the
common heritage of humanity.