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Acacia Mining pressed over deaths in Tanzania – by David Pilling (Financial Times – July 23, 2017)

https://www.ft.com/

Acacia Mining, which is in the midst of a multibillion-dollar dispute with the Tanzanian government over tax and royalties, is facing renewed pressure to address long-running alleged human rights violations at one of its mines in the east African country.

Since 2014, at least 22 people have been killed and 69 injured, many after being shot at or near Acacia’s North Mara gold mine, according to Rights and Accountability in Development, a UK charity, which accuses the London-listed miner of taking a “militarised” approach to guarding its assets in one of Tanzania’s poorest regions.

It was “unfathomable” that Acacia was not addressing human rights concerns as part of high-level discussions with the government to resolve a separate tax dispute, Anneke Van Woudenberg, executive director of RAID, said.

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Exclusive: Tanzania questions Acacia Mining staff in row with government (Reuters U.S. – July 21, 2017)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Tanzania detained and questioned two senior local Acacia Mining staff at an airport this week in a dispute with the government, two sources said on Friday, and the company said it was having trouble renewing work permits for foreign staff.

Chief Executive Brad Gordon denied a Reuters report that foreign staff were asked to leave by the government due to a dispute over mining licenses and accusations of tax evasion.

He said its local employees had been interviewed by Tanzanian “government agencies” but did not confirm detentions. “We were having difficulty getting work permits renewed. But no foreign nationals have been asked to leave the country. So there may be some confusion in that. That’s a normal part of business,” Gordon told Reuters.

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Acacia agrees to pay higher taxes set in Tanzania new mining law – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 14, 2017)

http://www.mining.com/

Acacia Mining (LON:ACA), Tanzania’s No.1 gold producer majority owned by Barrick, has agreed to pay higher mining taxes in the country even though it’s still disputing in an international court some of the changes to the laws governing its three gold mines.

The company, which spun off from Barrick Gold in 2010, will now pay a 6% royalty, up from 4%, on metallic minerals including gold, copper and silver. The miner also said it would continue to pay the recently imposed 1% clearing fee on exports.

Acacia’s decision to comply with higher royalties fits experts forecast that companies already active in the Tanzanian mining sector will stay put, despite the much-less favourable regulatory environment.

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Transforming the Mining Industry with Barrick Gold – by Jennifer Rideout (Cisco Blog – July 13, 2017)

https://blogs.cisco.com/

Global mining leader Barrick Gold is at the forefront of digital transformation. The organization, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is focused on becoming a 21st century company – a priority that drives Barrick Gold to integrate technology into everything they do.

Look no further than Barrick’s recent partnership announcement with Cisco and Great Basin College in Nevada for proof of this focus. The company is investing nearly $400,000 over three years to “bring digital and information technology skills development courses, free of charge, to groups in the community” through Cisco’s Networking Academy curriculum.

The company doubled-down on this announcement by stating they plan to expand the program to every community in which they operate – including in Argentina, Canada, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Peru, and Zambia.

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Michelle Ash: Barrick Gold’s Chief Innovation Officer: Digital Mining

http://www.ideacity.ca/

Michelle Ash is the Chief Innovation Officer at Barrick, where she looks at how innovation can not only drive productivity in the existing business, but how it can be harnessed to deliver alternative business models.

She joined Barrick in January 2016, with more than 20 years’ experience in the mining and manufacturing sectors, with a focus on business improvement and change management.

Previously she was Chief Operating Officer for Acacia Mining in Tanzania, spearheading business improvement programs that resulted in operational improvements and cost-savings.

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Tanzania’s president signs new mining bills into law (Reuters U.S. – July 10, 2017)

https://www.reuters.com/

Tanzanian President John Magufuli said on Monday he has signed into law new mining bills which require the government to own at least a 16 percent stake in mining projects. The laws, which also increase royalties tax on gold and other minerals, were passed by parliament last week despite opposition from the mining industry body.

Magufuli reiterated on Monday that no new mining licenses would be issued until Tanzania “puts things in order” and that the government would review all existing mining licenses with foreign investors.

“We must benefit from our God-given minerals and that is why we must safeguard our natural resource wealth to ensure we do not end up with empty mining pits,” Magufuli told a rally in his home village in Chato district, northwestern Tanzania.

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Agreement between Western Shoshone and Barrick mining benefits both – by Sally Roberts (Northern Nevada Business Weekly – July 10, 2017)

Hostilities have long persisted between Nevada’s mining companies and the state’s Native American population. That was particularly true in the Elko area in the early years of this century.

“There were many many years of bad, difficult communications with Placer Dome, which had a different way of approaching the concerns of the Western Shoshone,” remembers Brian Mason, a member of the Western Shoshone, and now program manager of Native American Affairs for Barrick Gold Corporation.

Mason began his work in mining with Placer Dome’s environmental restoration department. Whenever Placer Dome opened the permitting process for a project, which includes public comment, it faced 200 to 300 objections from tribal members, he said. That led to lawsuits and court delays.

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Tanzania Passes Laws Enabling Renegotiation of Mining Deals – by Omar Mohammed (Bloomberg News – July 4 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Tanzania approved two laws that enable the government to renegotiate contracts with mining and energy companies as the state seeks a greater share of revenue from natural resources.

The bills, which deal with state sovereignty over mineral wealth and contracts containing “unconscionable terms,” were approved by parliament on Monday, lawmaker Peter Kafumu said in a text message. The Tanzania Chamber of Minerals and Energy, the main industry lobby group that has opposed the new laws, said the implications of the bills are “vast.”

“There are many areas that the three bills touch on,” TCME Executive Secretary Gerald Mturi said by phone Tuesday from Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital. “The industry is going to be affected big time.”

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[Alaska Barrick] Back to Donlin Gold – by Shane Lasley (Mining News – July 2, 2017)

http://www.petroleumnews.com/

With permitting nearly complete, partners carry out optimization drilling

If this year’s US$8 million drill program is any indication, Barrick Gold Corp. and Novagold Resources Inc. are getting serious about building “the largest pure gold mine in the world” at their Donlin Gold project in Southwest Alaska.

“Donlin Gold’s size, grade, production profile, exploration potential, mine life, community support and jurisdictional safety render it a unique asset in the gold industry,” said Novagold President and CEO Greg Lang. “Both partners envision Donlin Gold to be a pacesetter in the mining sector and are completely aligned in their objectives to optimize the project.”

This will be the first significant field program at the 40-million-ounce gold project since Donlin Gold LLC – equally owned by subsidiaries of Novagold Resources Inc. and Barrick Gold Corp. – completed a feasibility study in 2011 and submitted the project for permitting the following year.

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Examining Barrick Gold’s Regulatory Risk In Developing Countries – by Trefis Team (Forbes Magazine – June 26, 2017)

https://www.forbes.com/

Barrick Gold’s African operations are mired in uncertainty amid the Tanzanian government’s ban on the export of unprocessed mineral ores from the country. In addition, the Tanzanian government has alleged that Acacia Mining plc, the Barrick Gold subsidiary which operates the company’s mining interests in the country, has been evading taxes by understating the amount of gold concentrate that it exports.

While Barrick has not altered its production guidance for its African mining operations yet, per Acacia plc (in which Barrick holds a 63.9% stake) the mineral export ban is reportedly costing the company nearly $1 million per day in lost sales, as there isn’t enough gold smelting capacity within the country.

Barrick’s woes in Tanzania are the latest in a series of developments for mining companies in developing markets that have adversely affected the viability of their operations in these jurisdictions.

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ANALYSIS: Turnaround in Tanzania’s Mining Sector Is Possible – by Krispinana Krispinana (All Africa – June 18, 2017)

http://allafrica.com/

The mining sector in Tanzania is experiencing hard times now. The legacy of mining of the past decades has been shown to be very unfavourable to the country’s interests in a recent report of Prof Nehemiah Osoro Committee formed by President John Magufuli to investigate the legal and economic impact of mining in relation to the impoundment of the mineral concentrates in containers that were destined for export by Acacia Mining Plc, a subsidiary of Barrick Gold Corporation.

Tanzania still has the potential in mining, but it needs the mining sector that operates on an overhauled legal, tax and regulatory landscape. This piece is intended to explore and flesh out tough dialogue between Barrick Gold Corporation, on the one part, and the government of Tanzania, on the other. Such dialogue is critical to reorganising Tanzania’s mining sector.

There is a view enunciated by economist Milton Friedman in 1970 that “the business of business is business”, that is, to make profit notwithstanding the existing cultural, socio-political and environmental circumstances of a country.

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UPDATE 2-Argentina lifts curbs on Barrick mine; full operations lag (Reuters U.K. – June 15, 2017)

https://uk.reuters.com/

Authorities in the Argentine province of San Juan lifted restrictions on leaching operations at Barrick Gold Corp’s Veladero mine on Thursday, but the world’s biggest gold producer said it would not immediately resume full operations.

Judge Pablo Oritja told a radio station that he understood Barrick had finished all required work, following its third cyanide spill in 18 months, and had ordered an end to restrictions put in place in late March.

Barrick will not begin adding cyanide until it has completed the ramp up of a new system and verified all elements are ready for normal operations, in keeping with a plan the miner submitted to regulators, said spokesman Andy Lloyd.

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UPDATE 4-Barrick Gold to hold talks with Tanzania over export row – by Fumbuka Ng’wanakilala and David Lewis (Reuters U.S. – June 14, 2017)

https://www.reuters.com/

DAR ES SALAAM/NAIROBI, June 14 Barrick Gold’s chairman and Tanzania’s president met on Wednesday and agreed to hold talks aimed at resolving an escalating dispute over an export ban which has hit Barrick’s Acacia Mining PLC .

Shares in Acacia, which is 63.9 percent owned by Barrick, jumped as much as 11 percent, to 303 pence, after the news and closed 5.5 percent higher, outpacing sector rivals. Tanzania is Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer, and Acacia its largest miner, with three gold mines that also produce copper in the East African country.

Acacia’s market value has nearly halved to about $1.4 billion since Tanzania banned the export of unprocessed ore in March, part of a push for the construction of a local smelter to make the country’s gold exports more valuable.

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Tanzania’s Acacia Spat Shows Deepening Battle With Business – by Omar Mohammed (Bloomberg News – June 13, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Tanzanian President John Magufuli’s escalating battles with business risk alienating the very investors he needs to drive his multi-billion dollar industrialization policy.

On Monday, the 57-year-old leader ratcheted up his dispute with miners by accusing Acacia Mining Plc of operating illegally in Tanzania and insisting the government is owed billions of shillings of unpaid taxes. It’s the latest in a series of broadsides against private investors who are being unnerved by his administration’s stance and its lack of consultation on policy. Shares in Acacia, which denies any wrongdoing, slumped as much as 16 percent.

“It’s negative that you have these uncertainties playing out in the market, especially at a time when you’re relying on growth and infrastructure development to be supported by private sector activity,” said Lisa Brown, a risk analyst at Rand Merchant Bank in South Africa.

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COMMENT: Two committees, twice the bad news for Acacia – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – June 13, 2017)

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Followers of international mining news have read about the Tanzanian government’s beef with Acacia Mining which is headquartered in London, U.K.

Last month we learned that the report of a government committee says Acacia owes tens of billions in unpaid taxes. The committee estimated output from the Bulyanhulu and Buzwagi gold-copper mines is 10 times what the company reported and on which it paid royalties and taxes. The committee checked 277 containers of concentrate ready to ship from the mines, and it said there must be 250,000 oz. of gold in them. Acacia’s number is 26,000 oz.

All told, Tanzania says it has lost US$49 billion in royalties and taxes on gold-bearing concentrate exports from 1998 to 2017. The result is that Tanzania has blocked all exports of concentrate. Acacia has been exporting concentrate from Bulyanhulu since 2001 and from Buzwagi since 2010, and the company insists it has declared all the associated gold, copper and silver revenue.

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