Barrick’s 2020 Sustainability Report Shows Significant Advances in ESG Performance

All amounts expressed in US dollars

TORONTO, April 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD)(TSX:ABX) is committed to being a good neighbour, a responsible corporate citizen and a conscientious caretaker of the environment.   We believe these traits are the very foundation on which to build a modern mining company and are as important as geotechnical expertise and free cash flow, president and chief executive Mark Bristow says in the company’s 2020 Sustainability Report, published today.

Bristow said Barrick’s approach to climate risk was led by site-specific strategies based on science and operational realities, rather than hopeful aspirations, and it was constantly reviewed in the light of technological advances. Identification and realization of the opportunities these offered enabled the company to update its 2030 emissions reduction target from 10% to 30% against its 2018 baseline. Barrick’s ultimate aim is to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

In 2020, Barrick’s environmental strategy paid real dividends, from improved water management in Tanzania to innovative rehabilitation plans in North America. At the group level, Barrick recorded zero Class 1 environmental incidents for the third consecutive year, reduced Class 2 incidents by 38% year-on-year and exceeded its target of reusing or recycling at least 75% of its water.¹

“Our current roadmap includes energy efficiency measures across the group and ambitious plans for more solar power in Mali and Nevada, and the conversion of a power station in Nevada from coal to natural gas. It also details our achievements to date with new battery technology installed to augment our hydropower stations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the conversion of our power station in the Dominican Republic from heavy fuel oil to cleaner energy sources,” he said.

Bristow says, with the Covid-19 pandemic driving more people below the poverty line, Barrick is maximizing the social and economic benefits its mines inject into their host countries and communities. In 2020, the company established community-led development committees at all its operational sites. These committees currently oversee an investment of more than $26 million in projects ranging from digital education programs in Nevada to water treatment initiatives in Argentina to the ongoing funding of the Paiam hospital in Papua New Guinea.