Barrick Gold sticks to its claim over limestone shipment

 
Santo Domingo.- Barrick Gold Corp. on Friday said the shipping manifest filed with the Customs Agency on the six tanks retained for nearly a month are in fact, limestone originally from Portugal worth only 50 dollars.
But Customs technicians said the cargo was shipped from the mine at Pueblo Viejo, Cotuí, a week after Barrick Gold and the Government signed the new agreement


An elnacional.com.do sources revealed that the mining company sought to ship the cargo to Canada, this time with a courier not the usual commercial carrier.

It said the company roused suspicions when it transported the six tanks to Punta Caucedo freight terminal’s Warehouse 10, instead of the customary Warehouse 3.

Another attitude which the source says spurred suspicion is that the company at no time demanded that Customs return the tanks which allegedly contain limestone.

They said the shipment would’ve been sent one week after signing the new contract, "the company still used tricks in the extraction of gold and silver, seeking to circumvent the payment of taxes."

Barrick Gold reportedly set the value of the limestone at 50 dollars, even though a shipping company would’ve charged more than $7,000 to ship it to Canada.
 

 Barrick Gold  set the value of the limestone at 50 dollars from Portugal?
The shipping company would’ve charged more than $7,000 to ship it to Canada.?
The limestone was coming directly from Pueblo Viejo mine?

Something smells very funny there..

Just the manner of declaring the commodity worth $50 is a slap in the face.
 Barricks actions moving the limestone originating from Portugal, subsequently arriving in the RD, and then manifiested to Canada is a de facto declaration of a special utility which adds value to the product.

 ¿ Is it worth the expense to ship ? Barrick thinks so.

Note: Gold is found in limestone deposits. Could it be the limestone was sent to Barrick in the RD for analysis ?

The actions by Barrick It do not pass the smell test.

Barrick's share holders have not gotten a whiff of it yet.

Barrick Gold Pollution

 Pollution of Barrick Gold in Dominican Republic



Everybody is happy with BG agreement with the government last week , everything happily settle down for financial issues, but there is anything made to shrink the environmental impact ?
Barrick Gold has been accused of a number of environmentally unsound practices by environmental groups.
The company has countered accusations by activists, challenging the accuracy of criticisms.

Criticisms include poisonous spills of cyanide , mercury and other heavy metals in Hatillo and Margajita and Yuma river, leading to environmental damage and the poisoning of human populations.



The director of Corporación del Acueducto y Alcantarillado de Santo Domingo (CAASD), architect Alejandro Montás, declared that the Hatillo dam is contaminated by Barrick Gold and can not be used no more for human consumption




Dead fishes from Hatillo dam.

Water depletion is a major negative consequence of gold mining, not to mention the poisoning of thousand of fishes, cattle and crops.. The large amount of water required to run a gold mining operation exacerbates its impact on local communities of Cotui and Cibao valley, many of which are already experiencing drought.

Last year not 106 as they claim, but 400 peruvian miners show up at Centro médico Ureña Hernández of Cotuí, in DR with symptoms of intoxication.

The base of Cotui economy is not mine activities but agriculture production, mostly exportation of pineapple

There is a very delicate balance in Dominican ecosystem , and now everybody seem unfriendly to the natural resources situation.






 A lot of people are complaining about the pollution left behind by the Rosario, but the super negative impact of Barrick Gold is unbearable..Once the gold oxide was processed, the sulfides were exposed and the mine was abandoned to its fate, allowing acidic waters from the Margajita River to drain away to the Hatillo Dam.

The acidic water is the result of a mixture of rainwater and the minerals from the gold sulfides that have remained exposed.

Another legacy of negative environmental impact from Rosario is the accumulation of heavy metals like iron, copper, and mercury , but now is way worst with Barrick Gold new damn El llagal and at at the site of the old plant and the sludge from Mejita and Margajita Rivers.


 



El Llagal , new illegal dam made by Barrick Gold




The contaminated Margarita river
 

Maguaca river


 Contaminated Margajita River by Barrick Gold according to the  president of Miguel de Peña García Fundation

There must be a serious environmental  plans to clean the cyanide and mercury from DR , because the damage could  be intolerable for any kind of vegetable animal or human life.Otherwise, get ready to start pointing fingers, as we did a couple weeks ago..

Somebody have to take the responsibility for no taking care of our natural resources, because once they  are lost, they will be lost forever.

Somebody better be responsible for the ecological mess in our fragile ecosystem!

The gold have some value but our land and our people health is worthless?

Is it ok that we get our rivers and lakes full of cyanide and mercury and nobody complains about it?


Are we conscious that no fish, animal life or  vegetable life  can ever grow up in such poisonous conditions?

Did we ALL get insane?

Barrick says they don't know the reason for their shipment retention

RE: Say no to Barrick Gold pirates

06 de mayo del 2013
Barrick says they don't know the reason for their shipment retention
Barrick Gold dice desconocer razones de retención de nuevo embarque
ww.7dias.com.doSanto Domingo06 de mayo del 2013







En un comunicado emitido este lunes, la empresa desmiente que el retraso en el embarque obedezca a la detección de irregularidades en los documentos de declaración que deben ser llenados.

“Toda la documentación de los embarques realizados a la fecha ha sido inspeccionada y aprobada por la propia DGA. Cada vez que la DGA nos ha comunicado algún cambio en cuanto a los trámites de exportaciones, hemos procedido a acogerlos. En dos de los embarques tuvimos inconvenientes debido a limitaciones del propio sistema SIGA de la DGA”, apunta Barrick Gold.

Insiste en que, hasta ahora, no ha sido notificada por la Colecturía de la DGA en el Aeropuerto Internacional de las Américas de que hubiera error o irregularidad en la declaración, por lo que ignora las razones de la medida de las autoridades.

En algunos círculos se comenta que con este tipo de medidas el gobierno del presidente Danilo Medina ejerce presión para lograr la revisión del contrato.


In some circles, people comment that these are measures by the goverment of the president to force a long waited revision  of the contract -scam


“Reiteramos que en todos los aspectos de nuestras operaciones, perseguimos el cumplimiento a cabalidad de todas las leyes y normas establecidas por la autoridades nacionales por lo que esperamos que se normalicen los trámites para poder proseguir con la exportación como se ha hecho con los 27 embarques anteriores, todos debidamente autorizados por la DGA”, concluye la minera.

The Customs Agency instructed its Punta Caucedo Port office at Las Americas Airport (AILA) to retain Barrick’s gold cargos until it reaches a new agreement with the Government.

Esta misma mañana, autoridades aduaneras informaron que procederían a tomar nuevas muestras del retenido embarque número 28 de oro y plata para comprobar la correspondencia entre lo embarcado y lo declarado.

The information was provided  at Las Americas, from where a detailed report was sent to president Danilo Medina , after inspections conducted on Barrick’s exports found alleged irregularities.
The Government reportedly instructed Customs to slap the mining company with more than US$96.0 million in fines for its doré shipments.
______________________________________________________________________________

Poor Barrick Gold, so naive and innocent..Maybe if some employee would ever read a dominican newspaper and see what EVERYBODY in DR is thinking about them ,
-about smuggling gold in front of the authorities

-the eviction to hundred of families,

-the disrespect to the Dominican president


-the TOTAL IMPUNITY while breaking dozens of dominican laws

-the problems with the government,

-scams ,

-the arrogance with the press, the government and the Dominican people,

-illegal dams constructions,

-why they were expelled from Chile last month,

- illness and cyanide pollution in a bunch of rivers of Cibao valley,

-how they bring misery to the communities that they touch,

-and most of all, how Barrick Gold get the pinnacle of infamy ,They would get an answer..
But of course..Barrick Gold didnt know anything about it !

"Poor Barrick Gold.. Such naive and innocent` " !

After 500 years , the gold exploitation continues at ANY cost..!

Barrick gold final warning in Dominican Republic

 Barrick Gold ships US$496M since Dominican leader’s warning
 

Santo Domingo. - Barrick Gold’s gold and silver exports ?? 11 topped US$496 million since November, ratcheting its shipments after president Danilo Medina issued the April 30 deadline to start talks to review the mining contract to give the country a bigger share.

Citing a Customs Agency source, elnacional.com.do revealed that Medina will receive today the full report on the review of Barrick’s 27 gold and silver shipments to date.
Barrick’s 27 shipments since Nov. 11 were reportedly 9,040 kilos of gold and 24,357 of silver.


 Our personal math
Barrick’s 27 shipments since Nov. 11 were reportedly 9,040 kilos of gold and 24,357 of silver


kilo = 35.27 oz
Gold oz price :US 1600

9,040 kilos x US1,600.00 x 35.27=


U$510,145,280.00
__________________________

oz silver: U$25.-

US25 x 35.27 oz x 24, 357 kilos=
U$21,476,784

___________________
Total taken by Barrick gold till now :
U$531 Millions
_______
Total paid to the Dominican state:

US 0 Dollars
______
Total they are planing to pay to the Dominican state:

US 0 Dollars
______
Total paid in Fines for smuggling:

US 0 Dollars

____
Dominican Republic offers Barrick Gold a “final” deal

Dominican Republic on Tuesday made to Barrick Gold what it calls the final proposal to amend its mining contract, the Presidency’s Press Office said in a statement.

"We have presented today (Tuesday) a final proposal and we expect an answer in the coming days," the document says.

"In any given scenario the government will demand compensation to the country for mineral exports payable retroactively," it said, noting that any decision the Executive Branch agrees to will affect the mining company’s total exports "since the first ounce of gold that left the country, November 13, 2012."

He said the commission designated for the talks underwent an intense process in recent weeks, "which should lead to a definitive definition, in the short term.


The Dominican government already gave them their final warning.So far Barrick gold  has always a last nasty trick under the sleeves.

They have pretend to ignore the government about renegotiate the contract-scam they made before.

under that scam, they dont have to pay a single penny to the government.

Barrick Gold already have nasty relationship with governments all over the world,. Specially in Latin America.

They were ordered to halted operations in Chile this month and to pay a big fine in Nevada  , USA for contamination..

Their idea of not paying nothing to the Dominican government , continue smuggling gold shameless in  front of the authorities, and heavy polluting dozens of rivers in Dominican Republic is unbearable, not to mention dead cattle, spoiled crops  and a lot of ill people.

So far, Barrick gold have only bring misery to Dominicans and the proofs are way overwhelming

The Dominican President have the support of most Dominicans.

As far as I could see, the only result is to follow Chilean steps.

Time to stop Barrick Gold!

Update..->  ->   ->. Breaking news!

US$96M fine ratchets Dominican Republic-Barrick Gold showdown 

 

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Government on Wednesday halted another precious metal shipment by Barrick Gold, just hours after offering the Canadian based minor a “final deal” to amend the contract for the mine at Pueblo Viejo.
The Customs Agency instructed its Punta Caucedo Port office at Las Americas Airport (AILA) to retain Barrick’s gold cargos until it reaches a new agreement with the Government.
The information was provided Wednesday morning at Las Americas, from where a detailed report was sent to president Danilo Medina on Tuesday, after inspections conducted on Barrick’s exports found alleged irregularities.
The Government reportedly instructed Customs to slap the mining company with more than US$96.0 million in fines for its doré shipments.


Another smuggling case, just minutes after the warning? 
So Barrick gold is above dominican laws and the President as well?
So the dominican president means nothing to Barrick Gold?

This is going to be good!

Barrick Gold Encountering Problems with USA, Chile and Dominican Republic

 Barrick Gold Problems in the americas


In Reno Nevada, Barrick Gold failed to report that it released toxic chemicals including mercury, cyanide and lead.   The Dominican Republic asked for a review of a contract it had with the Canadian mining company that could threaten the government.
 The Chilean Story

A month prior to the Atacama Water Board in Chile was to request that Barrick Gold Mines Corporation should be fined for not fulfilling its promise to protect the glaciers within the borders of its bi-national Chile-Argentina project, called Pascua Lama, Barrick was fined in Reno, Nevada for releasing toxic chemical substances.

 Days after a Chilean court upheld the injunction rendering their multi-billion dollar investment indefinitely stalled, Barrick Gold executives said in a shareholders meeting in Toronto that they might abandon the Pascua-Lama project altogether.
 
 Three high-level executives from Barrick's South America branch resigned Thursday, further complicating the mining giant’s South American operations. The resignations include the company’s regional president, Guillermo Caló. Robert Mayne-Nicholls and Rodrigo Jiménez, the director of operations and the regional vice president, also announced their departures.

In the Canadian company’s annual report, Chairman Peter Munk lamented the unanticipated financial issues at the mine, though he prioritized its rebound.

“We suffered a significant delay and a major cost overrun at our flagship Pascua-Lama project on the border of Chile and Argentina,” Munk said in the report. “Since that fact surfaced — so unexpectedly — the main focus of our company, at every level, has been directed at ensuring that this project will meet its new cost and schedule estimate.”

A 48 percent decline in the company’s share price and disappointing gold prices have characterized a challenging year for Barrick, Reuters reported Wednesday.

 The court of appeals in Chile’s northern Copiapó Region granted an indigenous community’s request to suspend the mine’s operations April 10. Minera Nevada, S.P.A., the Barrick subsidiary operating Pascua-Lama, has deflected allegations of negligent environmental behavior for most of its decade-long existence on the border between Argentina and Chile.

 The American Story
According to the Huffington Post, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered three mines in northern Nevada to pay a total of $618,000 for failing to report this release of toxic chemicals, including cyanide, lead and mercury from 2005-08.

All three mines are subsidiaries of the Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. — Barrick Cortez Inc.'s Cortez Gold Mine near Crescent Valley, Barrick Gold US Inc.'s Ruby Hill Gold Mine near Eureka and Homestake Mining Co.'s Bald Mountain Gold Mine near the Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge, according to the Huffington Post.

The three agreed to pay a total of $278,000 in fines and spend an additional $340,000 on an environmentally beneficial project as part of a settlement for allegedly underestimating reports of their toxic release inventory required under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, EPA officials said.
 

"Cyanide, lead and mercury used at these mines have the potential to pose a health threat," said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA's regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest Region, based in San Francisco.
"We insist on accurate reporting of chemical releases so that citizens have a clear idea of the risk from the facilities near their communities," said Blumenfeld.

The supplemental project will be conducted at the Cortez mine to identify the metal compounds formed in its oxide mill process and test methods to verify the quantities of new chemical compounds manufactured during the process.

The companies also agreed to perform audits at all other U.S. mining operations Barrick owns in Nevada and Montana and to determine if any reporting violations occurred and if so pay a $10,000 penalty per violation up to a total of $250,000
"Nonetheless, to achieve regulatory certainty regarding its TRI obligations, Barrick has agreed to enter into a settlement agreement with the EPA," said Louis Schack, director of communications for Barrick Gold of North America, based in Salt Lake City, Utah.


"Crumbs for your gold, the dominican story”
Meanwhile, in the Dominican Republic, independent deputy Carlos Gabriel García commented on Barrick Gold’s Manuel Rocha’s insistence that the government must comply with its agreement with Barrick. Gabriel García referred to this as “challenging” the national interest.


According to the Dominican portal, El Nacional, Deputy García believes that Rocha aims to silence the domestic sectors that have spoken out in favor of revising the agreement with Barrick, in which the Dominican government “will receive crumbs in exchange for its gold.”

 

He said it seems that Rocha is unaware that the company Place Dome was the one that won the bid to explore for gold and that the agreement signed back in 2002 was beneficial to the Dominican government.
The author of the draft resolution of the Chamber of Deputies that asks the government for a revision of the agreement with Barrick, believes that “this agreement cannot be above the interests of the country.”

Rocha, Barrick Gold representative in the DR, defended the 2009 gold exploration agreement with the government. “Since the beginning, we have been very clear that this contract was negotiated in a process that went on for nearly 2 years, between the government and the company along with an expert brought in from Europe, France specifically, and from the Inter-American Development Bank,” he said.
But in fact that gold exploration agreement is a big scam , with so many picky details that dominicans will never see a dime out of the mine, and the dominicans see themselves in the eyes of Chile, where Barrick Gold spend  16 years exploiting a Chilean mines, and Barrick Gold NEVER pay a dime out of it.

The Chamber of Deputies decided that three commissions will present a report on the agreement with Barrick Gold. Mateo Aquino Febrillet, Rector of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), is one of the illustrious Dominicans who also supports the revision of the agreement.

 In the Dominican Republic, meanwhile, the soaring price of gold has the government wanting more from the Pueblo Viejo mine, which has 20 million ounces of gold reserves as well as silver, copper and zinc.

Barrick owns 60 percent of the venture and Goldcorp Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, owns 40 percent. The companies reopened the mine last year after investing nearly $4 billion, the largest direct foreign investment ever in the Dominican Republic, and have estimated it will eventually pay about $7 billion to the government.

But President Danilo Medina and Congress have yet to see any money. They want to rewrite the 25-year contract, which promises royalties only after the two Canadian companies recoup their investment and the venture's profits rise above 10 percent.

Barrick's executives "have to change their attitude, because if they don't, the president has told them: 'Either you negotiate or more taxes will be imposed,'" said Ramon Peralta, Medina's administrative minister.


 President Danilo Medina’s "prudent deadline" issued to Barrick Gold Corp to renegotiate the gold mining contract expires today and has the population on edge awaiting the outcome of the standoff between the government and the Canada-based company which operates the facility at Pueblo Viejo (central), El Caribe reports.


It said Medina is expected to refer to the topic this week before leaving for the summit in Costa Rica.
The chief executive is expected to announce the result of the talks before month’s end, according to Presidency Administrative minister José Ramón Peralta.

Medina’s deadline to Barrick Gold formed part of his speech to Congress on February 27, and has since been accompanied by the retention of several shipments of ore at Customs, on violations including the miner’s mistaken ship manifest of the precious metal’s country-of-origin ( smuggling).

 In country after country, the world's biggest miners are facing new environmental standards, confronting changing tax and currency laws and defending long-term contracts they thought were written in stone.
 

Barrick gold only provides misery  and toxic  pollution to the communities were they go.They use tons of cyanide and mercury  in their operations for gold extraction, regardless of poor peasants, crops, river and cattle in  the exploited areas.

The situation now is just unbearable for the affected communities..And there are a lot of riots every week  in different part of Dominican republic because of that.

They have a long history of scams, heavy pollution, illness, bribery and heavy metal contamination.

In a small island like Dominican Republic the consequences are simply lethal... 
They are just destroying the island, were no other kind of human, vegetable or animal kind of life can surface out of there in any circumstances...

Say no to Barrick Gold TODAY !

Barrick’s environmental foes jump on wobbly miner

RE: Say no to Barrick Gold pirates

Barrick’s environmental foes jump on wobbly miner

by MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT , Globe and Mail
http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/forum/living-in-the-dr/general-info/52340/Say-no-to-Barrick-Gold-pirates
April 25th, 2013




The shares of embattled miner Barrick Gold Corp. are continuing their upward bounce after plunging to 20 year lows earlier this month, a move higher driven by a continuing recovery in the bullion price.


The world’s largest gold producer is adding another 2.3 per cent or 44 cents to $19.82 a share in Thursday trading, a good move from the recent low of $17.98. The rise should certainly should cheer up shell-shocked shareholders who’ve been watching their investment get pummelled by self-inflicted wounds through ill-timed acquisitions and cost over runs on major projects.

The long term outlook for Barrick shares hinges on many factors: the gold price is obviously the biggest driver, but the company also faces vociferous opposition from environmentalists and many residents around its mine sites, which should be a long term worry for shareholders.

Given that it’s the largest company in the business, with 25 mines in 10 countries, it isn’t totally surprising that Barrick would be a magnet for protesters. Mining can be a hugely disruptive businesses. Open-pit mines are massive undertakings, as is the management of the vast quantities of waste rock left over after ores are processed.

The main hubbub at Wednesday’s annual meeting dealt with the controversial $11.9-million signing bonus for co-chairman John Thornton, so investors may have missed another report timed for release during the meeting from Barrick’s environmental foes.

The report is 30 pages of footnoted attacks on Barrick for weak environmental practices and human rights abuses around its mines. The report accuses the company of “ignoring the warning signs of numerous conflicts across the globe.”


Investors shouldn’t stay tuned to this issue because it’s unlikely to go away any time soon.

For its part, Barrick released a statement dissing the report: “The report lacks credibility ... responsible mining is an absolute priority for Barrick and is central to how we run our business, reflected by the fact that we have been ranked as a leader in social and environmental responsibility for five consecutive years by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Our operations are a catalyst for economic development and create meaningful, long-term benefits for the communities in which we operate.”

But some recent signs of how much the company is chafing under environmental criticisms came from founder Peter Munk at the annual meeting.

Barrick Gold Corp. chairman Peter Munk arrives at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Wednesday, April 24, 2013, for his company’s annual general meeting. Behind to his right, Barrick board member and former prime minister Brian Mulroney.



“There are now libraries – libraries – full of reports. One report after another of every little aspect of air quality ... road conditions, dust conditions in building a mine. And each and every one of those can be changed, and every time they get changed, they get changed for the worse,” he complained.

According to Mr. Munk governments aren’t helping either, because they’re listening to non-governmental organizations. “What’s happening is that this enormously altered public perception of environmental concern – NGOs, human rights, water quality, air quality, etc. etc. etc. – becomes put one on top of the other, and how do governments react? They impose more regulations.”


Mr. Munk speaks to shareholders about Barrick’s troubled Pascua-Lama mine in Chile and Argentina. Work on the Chilean part of the mine was halted by court order over allegations of polluted groundwater.


If they can give the chairman $11.9 million bonus, how come that Barrick Gold have NEVER pay a dime to Dominican Republic for a free gold mine?

• 
  

If they stoped Barrick Gold in Chile and Argentina, how come we can not do the same in Dominican Republic?

• 
  

How come they keep contaminating , working, smuggling gold, with such impunity in DR?

Comité contra la Megaminería llama a movilización nacional los días 23 y 24 de abril





Las organizaciones que integran el Comité Contra la Megaminería y el Uso del Cianuro (CCMM) llamaron este martes a la población a movilizarse los días 23 y 24 de abril en sendas “Jornadas por la vida y la soberanía”, que busca hacer frente a los atropellos de los que son víctimas tanto la población y como el medio ambiente.

Entre las exigencias están la anulación del contrato con la minera Barrick Gold, preservación de Loma Miranda, el pago de salarios justos a los trabajadores, anulación de la última reforma fiscal y que se dejen sin efecto los contractos con las compañías generadoras de electricidad.

“El pueblo dominicano es víctima de las más grandes injusticias, el costo de la canasta familiar se ha incrementado de manera exorbitante, los impuestos se tragan nuestros salarios y el patrimonio nacional está siendo cedido a intereses extranjeros en condiciones desiguales. Ante tales atropellos es tiempo de que la población se lance a las calles en señal de rechazo a todas las medidas tomadas por el Gobierno”, sostuvo Escalin Gutiérrez, vocera del comité.

Gutiérrez reiteró que la protesta cuenta con respaldo nacional y que en Cotuí, Santiago, La Vega, Bonao, Barahona, San Francisco de Macorís y algunos barrios de la capital habrá movilizaciones.


(For more information check the forum "say no to barrick gold pirates " at www.dominicantoday.com )

Los trucos en los embarques de oro de Barrick.

Por: R. Osiris de León.

En la pasada semana, el pueblo dominicano quedó sísmicamente estremecido, cuando se dio a conocer que la Dirección General de Aduanas Dominicanas había retenido un embarque de Doré (aleación de oro y plata), procedente de la nueva colonizadora minera Barrick Gold, debido a que la empresa minera se negaba a que las paletas, herméticamente selladas, fuesen abiertas, como debe ser, para fines de revisión y verificación aduanal, bajo el ridículo alegato de que los sellos sólo podían ser abiertos en Canadá, lugar hacia donde se exportaba el Doré.

Sin embargo, la retención del embarque de Doré, que podría ser el No.21 de los últimos seis meses, cada uno realizado del mismo modo, sirvió para descubrir uno de los fraudes más escandalosos cometidos por la industria minera contra nuestro país, ya que inteligentemente en el manifiesto de embarque se consignaba a Estados Unidos como lugar de origen del Doré, lo que podría pasar desapercibido frente al ciudadano común, pero no ante los ojos de quienes sabemos de minería.

Quizás pocos dominicanos conocen que Barrick Gold opera 13 minas de oro en los Estados Unidos, y si el oro dominicano es exportado hacia Canadá como originado en Estados Unidos, se sobrestima la producción de sus minas en USA y se subvalúa la producción de oro dominicano, y para fines de recuperación de su triple inflada inversión dominicana, para fines de alcanzar su tasa interna de retorno del 10%, y para fines del pago al Estado Dominicano del 28.75% de Participación en la Utilidades Netas (PUN), ese oro no cuenta, porque oficialmente nunca se produjo aquí porque nunca se exportó como originado en la Rep. Dominicana, y así la Barrick nunca tendría que pagar por ese oro.

Y usted diría, pero claro que el oro se produjo aquí y se exportó, porque la planta metalúrgica de Cotuí está operando a plena capacidad desde el último trimestre del año 2012, y tiene capacidad para moler diariamente 24,000 toneladas métricas de mineral sulfuroso, lo que indica que si el mineral enviado a molienda contiene 2 gramos de oro por tonelada, y la recuperación alcanza el 91%, se obtienen 1,400 onzas de oro diariamente, pero si el mineral enviado a molienda contiene 4 gramos de oro por tonelada, se obtienen 2,800 onzas de oro por día, sin variar el proceso ni los costos operativos, pudiendo enviar mineral de 5 y 6 gramos de oro por tonelada, y ahí es donde comienzan los trucos.

La primera parte del truco se inicia cuando la empresa envía a molienda mineral rico de 4 gr. Au/ton, pero reporta mineral normal de 2 gr. Au/ton, y engaña diariamente al Gobierno con 1,400 onzas de oro que las exporta hacia Canadá como producidas en Estados Unidos, y que a los precios actuales representaría unos 850 millones de dólares al año que se llevaría a escondidas sin que el dueño del oro reciba nada.

La segunda parte del truco se monta cuando la Barrick anuncia públicamente que en sus primeros años va a producir unas 625,000 onzas de oro anualmente, cuando en realidad va a producir más de un millón de onzas de oro anualmente, pero para que los números cuadren, la diferencia excedente tiene que ser exportada discretamente como originada en sus minas de Estados Unidos, y esa producción de oro no entra en la contabilidad dominicana. Por eso en el manifiesto de embarque del Doré se puso como país de origen: Estados Unidos, lo que hasta ahora había contado con la complicidad de personal aduanal.

La tercera parte del truco está en el uso de la palabra Doré en el manifiesto de embarque, pues Doré es un término genérico aplicable a toda aleación de oro y plata, pero sin especificar cuánto es oro y cuánto es plata, lo que le permite a la Barrick jugar a su discreción con las cantidades de oro y de plata que coloca en cada embarque, y reportar al Gobierno lo que ella quiera, pues mientras el oro hoy está a US$1,600/onza, la plata se cotiza a US$29/onza, es decir, el oro hoy está costando 55 veces más que la plata, y así en cada embarque gran parte del oro caro se exporta disfrazado como plata barata.

Lamentablemente la Dirección General de Aduanas Dominicanas no tiene cómo determinar cuánto oro y cuánta plata va en cada embarque de Doré, pues sólo el laboratorio químico puede determinarlo y para ello hay que tomar muestras del metal y analizarlas mediante espectro fotómetro, cosa que Aduanas no tiene, aunque puede encargar estudios a laboratorios privados nacionales y extranjeros.

Es importante destacar que la retención de este embarque no respondía a una inspección aleatoria, como quiso decir Aduanas, sino a una firme decisión presidencial correctamente adoptada para presionar a la empresa minera y obligarla a que se siente a renegociar un Contrato que le deja a ella el 97% de los beneficios reportados y a los dominicanos el 3%, pero como se puede ver, gracias a los trucos, lo reportado tiende a ser la mitad de lo realmente producido, y así los indígenas de Quisqueya estamos siendo nuevamente engañados por los colonizadores que desde hace 500 años han venido a buscar oro.

Barrick Gold concession violates laws

Barrick Gold concession violates laws

Deputies say Dominicans Barrick concession violates laws
Posted March 6, 2013 Associated Press
SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - A special committee of the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic reported Wednesday that the millionaire contract granting a gold mine to Barrick violates several local laws, and therefore recommends that immediate review or annulment.

"We have the options of submitting an override of the Barrick contract with the state because there is sufficient evidence, legal elements," said Demosthenes Martinez, chairman of the justice committee of the House.

Martinez reported that according to a study by a multiple commission, the contract contravenes 10 articles of the energy bill, as well as at least five of the environmental law and several provisions of the constitution.

The agreement, originally negotiated in 2002, was amended by an amendment passed by Congress (bicameral) in September 2009.

After months of protests against various sectors of the mining concession considering leaving few economic benefits to the country, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Abel Martinez, requested in February to justice commissions, environment and energy, submit the agreement to a new study.

The tripartite committee concluded its report on Wednesday, which will be discussed in the coming days by the full House of Representatives, said Alejandro Jerez, president of the energy committee.

The Canadian Barrick Gold and Goldcorp acquired in 2006 the concession to operate for 25 years the Pueblo Viejo mine, 100 kilometers north of the capital, with a proven reserve of 20 million ounces of gold. The miner also extract silver and zinc.

Using an adaptation of the contract in question, passed in 2009 by both houses of Congress, Barrick will begin to pay the state profits from the exploitation of the mine only when you have recovered their entire investment and achieved a 10% return.

Until these conditions are met, the state will receive only 3.2% of the profits and income tax.

President Manuel Rocha miner said last week that the mining company has invested nearly 4,000 million, the highest foreign direct investment in the history of the Dominican Republic.

President Danilo Medina warned last February 27, introducing his first government report that Barrick should renegotiate the contract, considering it "unacceptable" because of a presumed allow the company to remain "virtually all" the benefit of the mineral extraction and export, which began in mid-2012.

   
Medina said that gold prices have increased from $ 298 an ounce since negotiating a $ 1,700 grant, without representing more immediate benefits for the country.

Not to accept a renegotiation, Medina warned the mining submit a bill to impose new taxes on the "windfall profits" of the mining industry by the increase in metal prices.

While insisting that the company is open to dialogue, the Pueblo Viejo Barrick spokesman, Jorge Esteva, said this week in an interview with a local television station to "renegotiate the contract, redefine the rules, change the legal framework that protects the investment, that is not on the table ".

Esteva told The Associated Press that negotiations to adapt the contract in 2009 lasted 27 months and also passes through both houses of Congress and was enacted by the executive branch.

Trajano Potentini from the Justice and Transparency Foundation (FJT), reported Sunday that the contract with the company Barrick Gold, as well as being harmful, illegal and unjust, so Olympic violates the Constitution, in relation to the constitutional principles of equality, equity and proportionality, privileges almost absolute tax exemptions, as well as issues of health, environment, international treaties, and the General Mining Law.

Trajano Potentini president of the FJT considered mockery, a challenge and a provocation of the head of the Barrick Gold in the country, when required by the Dominican State to fulfill an agreement that is illegal, unjust and unacceptable.

"It is a contract full of constitutional and legal violations, specifically the Mining Law of the Dominican Republic, it is a nightmare, a dismal and unfortunate experience for the country, which now requires the will and determination of the authorities and the Dominican people in a relentless struggle to reclaim our heritage, "he said.

                                           Cancellation of contract

He stressed that the consensus position of the FJT, is that the contract is totally null reference, both by general principles of law that establish the invalidity of the conventions that repealing public order regulations, as express provision of Article 19 in fine of the Mining Law No.146 "the terms of the contracts may not be less favorable to the national economic interest that under this law."

He said the contract Barrick Gold violates Articles 32, 43, 75, 95, 98 letter g), 129, 133, 134, 137 and 138 including the Mining Law of the Dominican Republic, No. 146, dated 16 June 1971, published in Official Gazette No. 9231, resulting void.

Trajano said that among the many violations attributed to the contract between the Dominican State and Barrick Gold, was identified as Article 98 directs the Dominican Mining Law, which within six following the granting of the concession, the Barrick Gold due constitute a Dominican company to carry out the operation, which has not done yet. For this reason alone, the award is null and void.