Strong communities contribute positively to our competitiveness. Barrick projects bring economic opportunities to areas around our mine sites and projects, which are typically located in isolated areas. The economic contribution of our business operations provides a powerful catalyst for sustainable, long-term development in these host communities and regions. The aim is to support a more stable business environment, a more skilled, educated and healthy workforce where essential services are available to residents, and a strong foundation for the development of local supplier industries.
Barrick’s economic contributions include employee wages and benefits, taxes and royalties paid to governments, purchases of goods and services from local and regional suppliers, community programs and capacity-building activities and charitable donations. In 2007, Barrick contributed $6.6 billion to the local and regional economies of our host countries.
Barrick is making a very significant contribution to the economies of developing countries where we operate, much of which benefits local people. They are then able to afford better health care, education and nutrition and a better standard of living overall.
In these countries, we actively support the development of local small businesses and potential suppliers to our mines. As a result of our “Buy Local First” policy, Barrick spent almost a half a billion dollars on goods and services purchased from local businesses in developing countries in 2007.