Response from Newcrest Mining
Newcrest strongly denies the allegations made in the report about Newcrest’s involvement in public health, environmental and human rights abuses and notes that there are a number of substantial factual inaccuracies in the report which should be corrected... Newcrest respects the Human Rights of all stakeholders... We seek to prevent or mitigate any negative impacts of our activities, and maximise our positive impacts, including in relation to Human Rights, and to ensure that our operations do not contribute to conflict. Our Human Rights Policy sets out our commitment to human rights in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights...
[F]ollowing are our comments in relation to correcting the factual inaccuracies in the report:
- Newcrest does not operate or own the Fruta del Norte operation in Ecuador. Fruta del Norte is 100 per cent owned, managed and operated by Lundin GoldInc. Newcrest is a shareholder in Lundin Gold Inc.
- Newcrest does not own or manage the Cascabel project in Ecuador. Newcrest is a shareholder in SolGold Plc, which is the majority owner of the Cascabel project.
- Newcrest divested its 89.89% interest in the Bonikro mine in Côte d’Ivoire on 28 March 2018.
- Newcrest has previously addressed in detail the claims relating to the Lihir Gold operation in Papua New Guinea. Our letter to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s Regional Representative for Australia, New Zealand & Pacific [is available here].