Supporting this claim, the federation of environmentalist organizations Friends of the Earth participated in a demonstration in Toronto to denounce the practices of the company and its effects.

The federation urged to question the need of gold mining operations by the Canadian company, which is mostly focused on the production of jewelry and it uses large amounts of water –thousands of millions of liters per year- polluting it with cyanide, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, selenium and sulphides.

“All this waste, pollution and impacts on communities lives and livelihoods is in exchange for a product that has very few practical applications. With environmental costs almost entirely unaccounted for, the processing costs are all that stand in the way for companies to realise huge profits at the expense of those living next to the mines”, said Romel de Vera, coordinator of the Resistance to Mining, Oil and Gas Program of Friends of the Earth International, according to a statement issued by the federation.

Barrick Gold has been questioned in Norway and Switzerland, which resulted in the Norwegian pension fund divesting 230 million dollars from the company last year.

Also, there are reports that confirm the long-lasting negative effects of the toxic spill from Barrick Gold’s North Mara operation in Tanzania, in May, 2010.

“Villagers alleged that up to 40 people and from 700 to 1000 herds of livestock died from the contaminated water and the nearby communities are still experiencing health problems to date. Despite this, Barrick has taken no action and is still endangering peoples’ right to life”, said Henry Ayubu, at Lawyer Environmental Action Team/ Friends of the Earth Tanzania, according to the statement.

Other cases report that the mining company has violated the rights of communities in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Australia, where Barrick Gold established an open-pit mine in the indigenous ancestral territory of Wiradjuri.

This is why Friends of the Earth joins the affected communities in a tour around Canada to protest the operations of the mining company.

Photo: http://protestbarrick.net