About

General counsel Rich Haddock leads the in-house legal team of Barrick Gold Corporation with 45 lawyers globally, including eight based in Toronto. Barrick Gold maintains a small head office legal team, with the bulk of the legal work handled locally in the jurisdictions where it operates. Haddock handles the day-to-day legal work, transactions, disclosures and operational issues, and Jonathan Drimmer is chief compliance officer and handles legal compliance, investigations, and global disputes. The company has legal heads in Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Chile, Peru, the US, and Zambia, and compliance leads in each of those countries except the US. In the last two years, among the most important departmental changes have been the separation of compliance from the legal group, and the increasing movement to a decentralised model. At present, Barrick is seeking to integrate another mining company, as part of a merger with Randgold. The team has engaged in several significant transactions and pieces of litigation. It has participated in the sale of several assets and interests, including 50% of the Zaldivar mine in Chile for US$1bn, 50% of the Veladero mine in Argentina for US$1bn, 50% of the company’s interest in the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea for US$360m, interests in Bald and Round Mountain in Nevada valued at US$610m, and 25% of the Cerro Casale project in Chile for US$260m. On the litigation front, it has managed two US securities class actions, and is managing two securities class actions in Canada. The team is also overseeing, as part of a joint venture, a major international arbitration involving the Government of Pakistan. Haddock identifies Barrick has a ‘highly collaborative team of experienced lawyers, who are dexterous and dedicated. The team of lawyers has worked together for many years, and has forged a strong bond. Each is capable of fulfilling multiple roles, and solving numerous different types of legal problems around the world’.