"North Mara Gold Mine - Statement"

Over the course of June 2019, Forbidden Stories, a non-profit project, alleged that MMTC-PAMP was involved in environmental and human-rights abuses in Tanzania. MMTC-PAMP takes such allegations extremely seriously. We perform enhanced due diligence on every supply chain before entering into a new commercial relationship and rigorously follow the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) Responsible Gold/Silver guidance, which is the industry program to comply with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (OECD Guidance).

Following Barrick Gold Corporation’s (Barrick) take-over of Acacia Mining plc in September 2019, MMTC-PAMP transitioned its relationship with Barrick’ North Mara Gold Mine (NMGM)’s new management team and jointly coordinated a thorough independent assessment of the mine and its processes and procedures. MMTC-PAMP appointed Synergy Global Consulting (Synergy), an independent third-party, to perform a detailed assessment of NMGM, and their report of the assessment was finalised and provided to MMTC-PAMP in May 2020. A senior representative of MMTC-PAMP joined Synergy’s on the ground assessment of NMGM which was also attended by senior representatives of Barrick. Unfortunately, as a result of the challenges surrounding the Covid19 pandemic the release of Synergy’s report was delayed by several months.

The independent assessment has confirmed MMTC-PAMP’s decision to continue to source doré from NMGM. MMTC-PAMP will continue to engage with Barrick on the mitigation of the risks identified at the mine, as well as regularly update its senior management and take action if and when required.