Acacia Mining : Response to Globe and Mail Article

23 Sep 2016

The Globe and Mail has today published an article on North Mara highlighting a number of allegations relating to historic incidents with illegal miners on the property. The article was based primarily on allegations by two anti-mining NGO's, MiningWatch Canada (MWC) and Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID), which Acacia has consistently refuted over a number of years.

Furthermore, the article does not reflect the significantly improved social situation at North Mara where the changes undertaken by Acacia over the past few years have led to a dramatic reduction in intrusions on to the mine site. This has led to a similar reduction in violent incidents and intruder fatalities and a significant improvement in relationships with the community.

Acacia was asked to comment for the article and provided an extensive response to the journalist refuting the majority of the claims and clarifying further points of record. Our response was largely ignored in the article and is reproduced in this release. Some of the key points that the journalist omitted to include are:

• Acacia fully refutes the allegations made by Mining Watch Canada / RAID regarding unlawful deaths. There have been no fatalities at North Mara due to Acacia security personnel and no fatalities as a result of unlawful action by the police during the period they refer to.
• We have seen a consistent reduction in the number of intruder fatalities at the mine, with 2015 over 50% lower than 2014. In 2016 to date there has been a further reduction, with two intruder fatalities on the property.
• In the last three years around 15% of overall fatalities have been police related, with 85% relating to accidental falls and infighting amongst intruders.
• The Commission did not report on the number of people killed or injured. As part of the Commission the committee listened to uncorroborated complaints regarding police related fatalities and injuries. The committee was clear that it is not a court to validate these claims, and advised those with evidence of police misconduct to report it to the Attorney General
• We have seen a significant reduction in the number of illegal miners in active mining areas over each of the past four years, with numbers of intruders in those areas down over 99% compared to 2011.
• In the last six months there has been an average of less than 10 intruders per month into the active mining areas.
• North Mara won the President's Award for the Best CSR in Tanzania in 2015 as a result of the efforts and investment we have made to improve the relationships with the communities at the mine