Barrick Gold Field Report

Barrick Gold’s Impact in the Dominican Republic’s Society and Economy Monica Sido Hawli Universidad Iberoamericana Abstract This paper studies the impact of the mining company Barrick Gold in their Pueblo Viejo Project located in Cotuí, Dominican Republic. Many studies have been done to the actions of this company around the world, but this paper examines the situation of their project in the Dominican Republic and the effects that has caused both in the society and economy. This paper examines the Barrick Gold Corporation and the Protest Barrick Gold’s information provided by their respective websites. This article also offers insight into the opinion of a Cotuí intellectual and a candidate for Congress. It was considered for this article the opposition side of the story, as it is the defense of the country’s welfare. Barrick Gold’s Impact in the Dominican Republic’s Society and Economy The project studied is located in Pueblo Viejo, Cotui, world-class mineral resource and one of the biggest non-developed gold deposits. Through the development of the project, the Barrick Gold has been able to get the results they wanted from the mine, but there have been several discussions within the Dominican population over the disadvantages that it has brought to the economy of the country. Moreover, the Dominican State has a prior interest for the country to develop economically, generating jobs and taxes. But as the project develops, it is noticed the increasing damage that Barrick Gold’s actions have on the environment of the country, especially in Cotuí. The main fear of the cotuisanos is that within 25 years, when Barrick completes its work, they will be left in a contaminated town, with no natural resources and without the benefit of the billions of dollars in resources that it’s being extracted at the moment (Protest Barrick Gold, 2007). Ever since colonial time, gold in

References: Barrick Gold Corporation. (2007). Barrick Global Operations Pueblo Viejo. (Barrick Gold) Retrieved 2011, from Barrick: http://www.barrick.com/default.aspx?SectionId=ba291551-44c9-4c4e-abd6-bc9246046aaa&LanguageId=1 Mining Right Scientifics . (2008). Minig Right. Retrieved 2011, from Mining: http://www.mining.com/ Protest Barrick Gold. (2007). Protestbarrick. (S. S. Natalie Lowrey, Editor) Retrieved 2011, from Protest Mining Barric Gold: http://protestbarrick.net/section.php?id=4