Occupation of Barrick Gold: World’s Largest Gold Mining Company.

Today over 80 people are occupying the mine site, disrupting work and shutting down mine operations at the massive gold mine at Lake Cowal near Condobolin in central New South Wales (NSW). People have locked on to machinery inside the mine site.

Wiradjuri Traditional Owners, locals, environmentalists and supporters from as far as Sweden, France and Canada are converging to protest the illegal operation of the worlds largest gold mining company Barrick Gold.

Wiradjuri Traditional Owner, Neville ‘Chappy’ Williams says. “We are the first nation of people in this land. Wiradjuri has never ceded our sovereignty over our lands and waters. We have the right to life. We have right to existence. We have the right to being Wiradjuri people in our own lands.”

Australian Student Environment Network’s national convenor, Nicola Ison says, “In the lead up to Barrick Gold’s AGM on 2nd May, Wiradjuri and their supporters are presenting an eviction notice to the gold mining giant.”

“Barrick gold is stripping NSW of its precious water resources, internationally significant wetlands and destroying Wiradjuri history and culture.”

“Barrick is transporting over 6000 tonnes of cyanide annually from Gladstone, Queensland to Lake Cowal, New South Wales, creating risk of spill and lethal contamination of waterways along the 1600 km transport route” says Ison.

Friends of the Earth campaigner, Holly Creenaune says, “While Australian communities are in the grip of devastating drought Barrick draws up to 17 million litres of fresh water each day at Lake Cowal. In the last 2 years, the water table has dropped 35 m due to Barrick’s mine.”

“We will continue to disrupt mining at Lake Cowal until there is land justice and water equity for Wiradjuri and central NSW communities.”

The plight of the Wiradjuri and the local community of Lake Cowal represents a long-standing trend in the Canadian mining industry, which has recently been reprimanded by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD).

In March of this year, UNCERD recognized reports of "adverse effects of economic activities connected with the exploitation of natural resources in countries outside Canada by transnational corporations registered in Canada on the right to land, health, living environment and the way of life of indigenous peoples living in these regions." In turn, the body recommended that Canada "take appropriate legislative or administrative measures to prevent acts of transnational corporations registered in Canada which negatively impact on the enjoyment of rights of indigenous peoples in territories outside Canada."

For a Media Briefing on the Lake Cowal Campaign please contact:
Natalie Lowrey :: 0421 356 067 :: natalie.lowrey@foe.org.au

for more information about conflicts involving Barrick Gold around the world, visit:
http://miningwatch.ca/index.php?/Barrick&list=articles&art_i=70&art_n=10
http://corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14381
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/features/2006/07/05/there_is_d.html

photo: Photo: Neville 'Chappy' Williams, Wiradjuri Traditional Owner at Lake Cowal 2004. Source: Bonsai