Rock fall kills three at Barrick mine in Tanzania (March 29, 2010)

VANCOUVER– Three miners at the Bulyanhulu underground gold mine in Tanzania were killed on March 16 by falling rocks. Owner Barrick Gold (ABX-T, ABX-N) immediately suspended mining operations and the mine rescue team worked around the clock in an attempt to rescue the workers.

Rescue efforts were unsuccessful and the team instead recovered three bodies. The deceased are Dickson Kadelema, Vedastus Tandise and Joel Nicholas.

Mining operations were suspended for a period of mourning and were restored on March 19. The area of the rock fall will remain closed until the accident has been investigated and any necessary actions taken.

Barrick had not suffered any employee safety-related fatalities in Tanzania since 2006. In fact, the Bulyanhulu mine earned a national award for best overall occupational health and safety system from the Tanzania Occupational Safety and Health Authority in 2009.

Bulyanhulu is a trackless operation that uses long-hole and drift-and- fill as its main stoping methods. The processing plant consists of a crushing and grinding circuit, a copper-gold-silver flotation circuit, a tailings thickener, and a tailings storage facility.

The incident came just as Barrick works to spin off its Tanzanian assets into a separate company. African Barrick Gold is expected to debut on the London Stock Exchange this month; it will later list on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange in Tanzania. The major hopes to raise US$834 million in the London initial public offering of 25% of the new company, the remainder of which will be held by Barrick Gold.

Barrick operates four gold mines in Tanzania that are expected to cumulatively produce 800,000 to 850,000 oz. gold in 2010. The four mines host total reserves of 16.8 million oz. gold. Bulyanhulu is by far the largest of the four mines, in terms of production and reserves.