Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX) (NYSE: GOLD), the world’s second-largest gold miner, announced that Twiga Minerals Corporation, its joint venture with the Tanzanian government, launched a support program to assist the east African country in combating and containing the covid-19 pandemic.
According to Willem Jacobs, Barrick’s chief operating officer for Africa and the Middle East, in addition to measures already introduced to protect workers and their families living in and around its mines, the company is contributing $1.7 million in the form of critical equipment and expertise to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Barrick is engaging with regional commissioners to find ways to canalize the funds
In a media statement, Jacobs said that, at the national level, the company will be concentrating its efforts and contributions on the Mloganzila and Mabibo sectors in Dar es Salaam, where isolation units and quarantine centres are already in place. Regional support will be focused on the northern part of the country, particularly the cities of Musoma, Shinyanga and Geita where isolation centres will be created and equipped.
The executive also said that Barrick will keep its mines operational to support the country’s economy.
In Tanzania’s northern Kahama district, Barrick has the Bulyanhulu operation, a narrow-vein gold mine containing gold, silver and copper mineralisation in sulphides, which last year produced 27,000 ounces of gold.
Some 97 kilometres from Bulyanhulu, the company has the Buzwagi operation, which produced 83,000 ounces of gold in 2019 and whose mill is solely processing stockpiles until mid-2021.
In north-west Tanzania, the Canadian miner operates the North Mara gold mine, which is a combined open-pit and underground operation that produced 251,000 ounces of gold in 2019.