BACKGROUND

For the third time in under ten years, alleged victims of violence by police providing security at the North Mara Gold Mine in Tanzania are seeking legal remedy. This time, Canada’s Barrick Gold was sued in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice by the Vancouver-based law firm Camp Fiorante Matthews Mogerman (CFM) and Waddell Phillips in Toronto. Read the Statement of Claims (2022 and 2024). 

The plaintiffs are Indigenous Kuria whose villages surround the mine’s pits and waste dumps. For well over a decade Kuria men, women, and children have been subjected to reported excess use of force by mine security and police leading to beatings, serious injuries, killings, and rapes.

THE FIRST LAWSUIT: The first lawsuit, on behalf of victims of alleged excess use of force by police leading to deaths and injuries, was filed by the firm Leigh Day in 2013 against Barrick’s then-subsidiary, U.K.-based African Barrick Gold plc., and the North Mara Gold Mine ltd. That case was settled out of court in 2015, on behalf of 13 Kuria villagers.

THE SECOND LAWSUIT: The second lawsuit was brought in 2019, initially on behalf of seven victims of alleged violence by mine security and police providing security to the mine. The case was filed against Barrick subsidiaries Acacia Mining PLC (later named Barrick TZ Ltd.) and the North Mara Gold Mine Limited by the firm Hugh James. Three additional claimants, family members of three men who were allegedly shot dead by mine police, were later added to this case. MiningWatch Canada assisted victims in this case, which was settled out of court in March 2024 on behalf of 14 plaintiffs.

THE THIRD LAWSUIT: In September 2019, Barrick Gold purchased the shares of minority shareholders in its subsidiary, Acacia Mining, in a $1.2bn buy-out. Barrick now has an 84% ownership in the North Mara Gold Mine through its subsidiaries. The Government of Tanzania owns the remaining 16%. Barrick has three appointees on the five-member Board of Directors, in its capacity as indirect majority shareholder, and management control over the mine.  On November 23, 2022, Barrick Gold was sued in its home country Canada by 21 claimants (Sophia Matiko John v. Barrick Gold Corporation) for alleged excess use of force by police contracted to provide security services to the North Mara Gold Mine leading to deaths and injuries of local Kuria peoples. As the statement of claim notes, these “acts of extreme violence committed by the Mine Police in the service of Barrick in and around the North Mara Mine” include ”killings of five local residents” and “numerous beatings and shootings.” These cases all occurred after Barrick’s September 2019 increase in indirect ownership. On February 5, 2024, 8 additional plaintiffs were included under a new filing (Ester Nyangi Petro v. Barrick Gold Corporation). The two cases were dismissed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto on November 26, 2024. Justice E.M Morgan found that the “Court lacks jurisdiction to determine the matters at issue.” Noting further that “If the Court had jurisdiction, the actions would be permanently stayed on the basis of forum non conveniens.” The substance of the claims have not been considered. Legal counsel for the plaintiffs has appealed this ruling.

A RELATED LAWSUIT: In December 2022, UK-based Leigh Day filed a suit on behalf of the families of another two Kuria victims of violent assault by mine security and/or mine police at the North Mara Gold Mine. Both died after being shot in 2019. This case is against the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) alleging that the LBMA wrongly certified that gold sourced from the North Mara Gold Mine is free from serious human rights abuses.

MiningWatch Canada has supported victims and families of victims in the cases filed since 2020.