Law Times

www.lawtimesnews.com Law Times / march 17/24, 2008 Page 15 The greening of gold Barrick gold receives CCEL award I t's hard to imagine the highly toxic process for gold-extrac- tion becoming eco-friendly, but that's precisely what the le- gal department at Barrick Gold Corp. is committed to doing. Barrick's legal team, headed by Patrick Garver, was recog- nized with the Corporate Coun- sel Environmental Leadership Award at Insight Information's second annual Corporate Coun- sel Forum, held late last month in Toronto. Nella Cotrupi, team leader of conference development at Insight, was on hand to present the award and says the reason it was established was to recognize environmental leadership with in-house counsel involvement. "We do work with a lot of corporate entities, and there are many entities that are taking significant steps already on the environmental front, and we de- cided to establish this award to recognize environmental leader- ship — and, in particular, en- vironmental leadership that has a significant contribution com- ponent from the legal depart- ment," she says. "Not always the sexiest de- partment in the organization, but I think that the opportuni- ties are there to take leadership in this area and I think this is happening." The inaugural award was pre- sented to Barrick Gold by Green Business magazine publisher Frank Shoniker, lawyer Marc McAree of Willms & Shier En- vironmental Lawyers LLP, and Ron Dembo, CEO of Zerofoot- print. "Barrick's legal department participates in the business of Barrick's environmental health and safety committee that ap- proves all of the company's ma- jor environmental programs and policies. And in 2007, Barrick instituted a company-wide mer- cury-monitoring program that is an international best practice and is a beyond-compliance pro- gram," said McAree when pre- senting the award to Benjamin Little, director of government affairs, who filled in for Garver, who was unable to attend the ceremony. Barrick is the world's largest gold producer, boasting 27 mines on five continents. It is also a sig- natory and founding partner of the International Cyanide Man- agement Code (ICMC). The ICMC is a voluntary initiative for the gold-mining industry and the producers and transporters of the cyanide used in gold mining (known as the cy- anide process or the MacArthur- Forrest process.) It focuses on the safe management of cyanide that is produced, transported, and used for the recovery of gold. The code also addresses cyanida- tion mill tailings and leach solu- tions, and includes requirements related to financial assurance, accident prevention, emergency response, training, public report- ing, stakeholder involvement, and verification procedures. Last year, Barrick certified nine mines under the ICMC and is striving to do the rest. "Social and environmental re- sponsibility, and corporate social responsibility generally, really is a fundamental part of the way that Barrick operates around the world," said Little. "That's not just because it's the right thing to do, although that's a large part of it, and it's not just because it's a legal obligation, although in some respects that's part of the equation as well, but it's also be- cause there's a compelling busi- ness case for acting as a respon- sible mining company globally." Little said the company often sees examples of other compa- nies, particularly in developing countries, that don't operate pur- suant to high standards of corpo- rate social responsibility and they do so at their peril. "Unfortunately, I think they make things more difficult for companies that do operate to the higher standards," he said. "It's certainly in our interest that companies respect robust stan- dards in all of these areas, par- ticularly in the environmental realm, where as a gold mining company you're not able to make mistakes. You have to operate at the highest standards all of the time." Little says Barrick's commit- ment to environmentally respon- sible mining spans all phases of its projects. "It starts when our geologists begin exploring in new areas and it carries through to project development, the op- eration of a project — which for goldmines can sometimes be up- ward of 20 years — and then a particularly critical part is in the closure process." Closing a mine — known as the reclamation process — in- volves creating useful landscapes that meet a variety of goals. It includes all aspects of this work, including material placement, stabilizing, capping, regrading, placing cover soils, revegetation, and maintenance. In July, Barrick announced plans to invest $68 million in projects in Chile and Tanzania that will harness the advantages of clean energy and enhance ex- isting power infrastructure. "We find that the focus on clean energy is extremely impor- tant in terms of ensuring con- tinued community support for projects. Local politicians like these a great deal and, again, it helps us fulfill what we do with our environmental mandate." The runner-up of the Cor- porate Counsel Environmental Leadership Award was Maria Tesla, vice president and gen- eral counsel, corporate and legal planning, of Canon Canada Inc. "A lot of the environmental work that's done at Canon flows through the legal department," said McAree in presenting the runner-up award to Tesla. "Various initiatives at Canon include moving towards ensur- ing that suppliers and customers of Canon are acting in an envi- ronmentally conscious manner," McAree said. "Through the legal department, there has been work done with others in a co-ordinat- ed fashion through the organi- zation to develop the EcoSense trademark, which is applied to identify Canon's energy-efficient products." BRIEF: IN-HOUSE COUNSEL Government Liability: Law and Practice Karen Horsman and Gareth Morley This looseleaf publication is a practitioner-oriented guide to conducting civil litigation when one of the parties involved is the Crown. With contributions to this text from leading practitioners from the private, public and academic bar, this is the first resource of its kind that is regularly updated, addressing the evolving area of civil government liability from the point of view of a practitioner. Looseleaf & binder • $241 Supplements invoiced separately (1-2/yr) P/C 0149030000 • ISBN 978-0-88804-453-2 The Law of Government Ethics: Federal, Ontario and British Columbia Gregory J. Levine This resource is intended to guide lawyers, public servants and politicians through an increasing thicket of ethics legislation such as the Federal Accountability Act , as well as other regulations, and enable them to deal with these laws forthrightly and effectively. It is a unique resource that examines government ethics laws respecting: lobbying, access to information, privacy and more. Perfectbound • 190 pp. • 2007 • $79 P/C 0173010000 • ISBN 978-0-88804-461-7 Canada Law Book is A Division of The Cartwright Group Ltd. • Free Shipping on pre-paid orders. Prices subject to change without notice, and to applicable taxes. For a 30-day, no-risk evaluation call: 1 800 263 2037 or 1 800 263 3269 www.canadalawbook.ca LT1001 CA006 CA006 3/12/08 9:10 AM Page 1 BY KIRSTEN McMAHON For Law Times Green Business magazine publisher Frank Shoniker, left, and Marc McAree of Willms & Shier, right, present the Corporate Counsel Environmental Leadership Award to Barrick Gold's Benjamin Little, centre in top photo, and the runner-up award to Maria Tesla of Canon Canada Inc., centre in bottom photo. LT

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