International Cyanide Management Code for Gold Mining To Protect Workers, Communities, and the Environment.

Business Editors

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 14, 2002

Work is nearing completion on an International Cyanide Management Code for gold mining, it was announced today in Toronto. The Code was developed by a widely representative group of stakeholders over the last fourteen months.

Speaking at a luncheon during the World Mine Ministries Forum, John Carrington, Vice Chairman of Barrick Gold Corporation, said the Code represented an important collaboration between stakeholders. Mr. Carrington went on to say, "Producing the Code showed us that the industry, working together with a broad range of stakeholders, could develop a consensus on common issues. With its implementation, we will see fewer cyanide incidents, and should one occur, improved responsiveness and less impact."

This project began at a workshop in May 2000, sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programe and the International Council on Metals and the Environment (ICME)(1), to review recent accidents involving cyanide, and ways to improve the management of cyanide at gold mining operations. Government regulatory agencies, gold mining companies, cyanide manufacturers, intergovernmental organizations, and environmental advocacy groups attended this workshop.

The result of the workshop was the initiation of a process, under the aegis of the UNEP and ICME, to develop a voluntary international code for the management of cyanide in gold mining. Later, UNEP and ICME organized a multi-stakeholder Steering Committee, which first met in December 2000 to begin the work of drafting the code.

"This Code will provide practical guidance to gold mining operations on the safe use and management of cyanide," said the working group's chairman, Harold Barnes, former Vice President at Homestake Mining Company. "Our goal was to develop a Code that will help protect workers, communities, and the environment, and we believe it will meet these objectives."

Barnes said the Code could be implemented internationally, regionally and locally, in both developed and developing countries, by both large and small gold mining companies. "Because it is designed to have broad and fair application," Barnes added, "it should be embraced enthusiastically by gold mining companies, regulators, and other stakeholders."

"The Code is important because it ensures local communities that operations certified as being in compliance have taken steps necessary to reduce the potential for future cyanide-related incidents at gold mining sites," said John Gammon, Assistant Deputy Minister of the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. "The Code's strengthened environmental safeguards are credible and verifiable."

The Code has two major elements:

-- A principles section commits signatories to manage cyanide in a responsible
manner. The section covers nine key areas: production, transportation, handling
and storage, operations, decommission of facilities, worker safety, emergency
response, training, and communications with the public.

-- The second element of the Code established the practices that must be
followed to implement each principle.

"It was critical that the Code establish specific performance standards and verification procedures, and we've done that for everything from how cyanide is produced and transported to on-site use and management, worker training and stakeholder involvement," said Barnes.

Participation in the Code is voluntary. Code signatories agree to follow the Code's Principles and to implement its Standards of Practice. Verification and certification is accomplished through independent, third party audits every three years. An operation is certified when the auditor concludes that the Code is implemented. A unique symbol may be used by those operations certified as in compliance with the Code. Operations are de-certified if an audit determines that the operation is no longer in compliance.

Looking ahead, Carrington said, "The goal now for the industry is to achieve widespread adoption of the Code. Beyond that we must continue to engage in constructive dialogue inside and outside the industry on implementation issues and performance results."

One of the primary objectives of the Code was to ensure that a wide-range of stakeholders was consulted in a transparent process. This began with the Paris Workshop, and continued through the appointment of the Steering Committee, and throughout the drafting of the Code. Provisions were made for extensive consultations with stakeholders and communities. The process was transparent, with Steering Committee minutes and work product being available on the Internet.

"I want to thank all of those who participated so constructively in the Code's development over the last two years, especially the Steering Committee, UNEP and ICME for initiating and overseeing our work, and everyone who commented on various drafts of the Code when it was distributed for additional views," Barnes concluded.

The full text of the International Cyanide Management Code will soon be available on the Code's web site www.cyanidecode.org along with background information, technical resources and procedures for participation in the Code.

(1)ICMM, the International Council on Mining and Metals, is the successor organization to ICME.