Large mining attach great importance to permission granted by communities

Large companies engaged in mining, as Barrick, Newmont and Gold Fields, today recognized the great importance they attach to "permission" of local communities to start operations in a jurisdiction.

The executive vice president of the Canadian Barrick Gold Corporation, Alexander Davidson, said that "most important" of permits issued to mining "is giving the premises" of communities adjacent to the new site.

For Davidson, the so-called social license "is the permission given by the community, which gives the green light for the project" and added that to make this possible is necessary that the company delivers information on "how they will benefit the community" .

The representative of Barrick drew attention to cases in Chile and Peru where some communities have opposed the mining operations and they, despite having government authorization, have not been able to perform.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the U.S. Newmont Mining, Richard O'Brien, indicated that one of the aspects that benefited its link with the communities was to maintain a long relationship with them.

Also, have "sustainable benefits" for the community which translates into education, health and employment for villagers.

For the general manager of the South African Gold Fields Limited, Nicholas Holland, "one of the key issues was to involve communities, to be close to the foundations" to involve them in the project through consultations and transparent information.

Holland agreed with his colleagues on the need to influence the contribution of mining to the local economy, "not only for the benefit of the company but the country".

The three executives participated in a panel discussion on the prospects of gold mining under the VIII International Gold Symposium, held at the Military Headquarters in Lima.

Being consulted on the geographical diversification of its activities, Davidson said that there is no other diversified mining company such as Barrick, to have 27 mines in 10 countries, a situation considered normal if the company seeks to grow.

Barrick has operations in the United States, Peru, Australia, Canada and South Africa and has advanced projects in Pueblo Viejo (Dominican Republic), Pascua Lama and Cerro Casale (Chile), and Reka Diq (Pakistan), among others.

Meanwhile, O'Brien said that his company has "to go where the gold" and stressed that the issue of concentration is in large mines such as Yanacocha, the largest gold in South America, located in the Peruvian department of Cajamarca, with an annual production of 900,000 ounces of gold.

Finally, Holland stressed that the best way to give a diversified profile to Gold Fields is to reduce the concentration anywhere in the world.

Gold Fields has projects in Cerro Corona (Peru), St Ives and Agnew (Australia), Danong and Tarkwa (Ghana) and another four in South Africa.

During the first session of the VIII International Symposium Gold americas is predicted that America is projected as a leading producer of gold in the world and that the price of an ounce in the near future exceed $ 1,000.

The Gold Symposium in Lima started today in its eighth edition, hosted every two years Peru, to analyse the prospects for the precious metal in international markets.

Peru is the largest gold producer in Latin America and ranks fifth place in the world ranking, with 170 metric tons in 2007, which accounted for 6.8 percent of output in the world.