Barrick Gold Mine Environmental Settlement in the Dominican Republic

In June 2025, Barrick Mining Corporation, the Dominican government, and community representatives signed a resettlement agreement covering families displaced by the Pueblo Viejo gold mine, with total investment reported at more than 20 billion Dominican pesos, or roughly US$326 million.¹ The Barrick gold mine Dominican Republic settlement closes one chapter of a nearly two-decade dispute in Sánchez Ramírez province, but it leaves major claims open: hundreds of downstream families are still asking to be moved, two constitutional lawsuits filed in May 2025 challenge a planned new tailings dam, and questions about legacy contamination of the Margajita River remain unresolved.

What the June 2025 Agreement Covers

The agreement was signed on June 11, 2025, by Pueblo Viejo Dominicana (the joint venture in which Barrick holds 60% and Newmont 40%), Dominican authorities, and community representatives. It was brokered through a formal commission with the country’s Public Defender acting as mediator and the Catholic Church as observer.²

Barrick described the deal as final and said it was aligned with International Finance Corporation Performance Standard 5, the benchmark for land acquisition and involuntary resettlement. The agreement established a final compensation matrix that includes premium payments for certain crops, resolved residency grievances that had previously excluded some individuals from earlier programs, and guaranteed top-up payments so that people covered by the new deal are treated consistently with those who had already reached separate compensation arrangements. With those terms in place, the commission dissolved, and implementation continues household by household.²

By mid-2025, 402 homes had been built and 82 families had been resettled in the new “Nuevos Horizontes” community. Asset inventories were reported as nearly complete, and compensation package delivery was underway.¹

Who the Settlement Does Not Cover

The most visible community campaign around Pueblo Viejo is not clearly resolved by the June 2025 deal. The Comité Nuevo Renacer, led by Leoncia Ramos, represents 450 families across six communities downstream from the mine who have been asking to be relocated for more than 15 years. A government census in 2018 identified affected families, and a separate government-led count identified 369 families qualifying for relocation, but as of 2024 no displacement agreements had been implemented for the downstream group.³⁴

Residents describe black dust accumulating in their homes and report respiratory illness, skin lesions, vision loss, and heart conditions. One resident, Casilda Lima, said she was diagnosed with elevated lead and heavy metal levels in her blood in 2014.⁵ The Dominican Ministry for the Environment has confirmed through water testing that the Margajita River, downstream from the mine, contains toxic traces above legal limits.⁶

The Dominican mining ministry has said government analysis found no direct public health or livestock impact from current operations. Barrick has attributed health issues to legacy contamination predating its 2013 operations and has said some residents moved into the area specifically to seek resettlement benefits.⁵

In September 2024, community representatives marched 100 kilometers to the National Palace in Santo Domingo and handed President Luis Abinader and the ministers of environment and energy a written demand for immediate relocation.⁴ In December 2023, Juan Dionicio Rodríguez Restituyo, president of the human rights committee of the Dominican Chamber of Deputies, had told parliament that relocation was “the only solution” for the 450 families.⁵

The gap between the 82 families resettled at Nuevos Horizontes by mid-2025 and the hundreds identified in earlier censuses shows how much of the displacement question the June agreement did not answer.

The Naranjo Tailings Dam and the 2025 Lawsuits

Barrick’s plan to extend the life of Pueblo Viejo by roughly 25 years depends on a new tailings storage facility near the Naranjo River. The proposed dam would be about three times the size of the existing El Llagal dam.⁵ Both dams carry an “extreme” risk rating, meaning a failure could be expected to cause more than 100 fatalities. A 2023 independent review by geologist Steven H. Emerman concluded that the environmental impact study for the expansion was incomplete and failed to consider the safest waste management options.⁴

In May 2025, one month before the resettlement agreement was signed, local communities supported by the Institute of Lawyers for the Protection of the Environment (INSAPROMA) filed two constitutional protection actions, known as amparos, before the Superior Administrative Court. The petitions argue that the Naranjo project violates constitutional rights to life, health, dignity, water, food security, and a healthy environment. They demand an immediate halt to construction, cancellation of environmental permits, an independent safety review, a moratorium on tree felling and road construction near the Naranjo River, and a new environmental and social impact assessment meeting international standards.⁷⁸

Barrick has said the lawsuits have “no merit” and that it intends to defend its position vigorously. As of mid-2025, hearings were scheduled but no interim orders had been issued, and the company had not recorded any provisions for potential liabilities.¹ The dispute has become known as El Naranjo v Barrick Gold (2025), and the Dominican judiciary has treated it as a case that tests the state’s obligation to balance economic activity with environmental and social rights.⁹

The 2006 Contract and the Older Resettlement

Under a 2006 special contract, Barrick and Newmont received a lease covering roughly 40 square kilometers and an exemption from the national mining law. In exchange, Barrick was required to pay $37 million toward environmental remediation of historic contamination left by the previous operator, Rosario Dominicana, which had ceased operations in 1999. The contract absolved the company of all future liability for that legacy pollution.³ Whether the $37 million was fully spent, and whether the remediation was ever completed, is not clear from public records.⁶

The lease was signed in 2002 by Placer Dome, later acquired by Barrick, and amended in 2009 to recognize Pueblo Viejo Dominicana Corporation as the operator. The Dominican Senate approved the amended agreement on September 15, 2009, after review by specialist consultants with support from the Inter-American Development Bank.¹⁰

An earlier resettlement was signed in September 2007 between the Dominican government and residents of three towns — El Llagal, Fátima, and Los Cacaos — to clear the way for construction of the El Llagal tailings dam. Barrick reported paying $1.5 million to support the relocation of 65 households. More than a decade later, farmers displaced by that original dam construction said they still had not received the land or compensation they were promised.³

The Legal Framework Behind the Claims

Dominican environmental law operates under a regime of objective and joint liability. Offenders can be held accountable for environmental damage without proof of intent or negligence, and liability can extend to current owners for historical damage and, in cases of shared management or control, to shareholders or parent companies. Serious environmental crimes carry penalties of up to 10 years’ imprisonment, asset confiscation, and aggravated fines.⁹

Constitutional Court ruling TC/0458/21, decided on December 3, 2021, has become part of the backdrop for the Naranjo lawsuits. That case involved the Mina Mar Palmarejo, a non-metallic mining operation near the Diego de Ocampo Natural Monument in Santiago province. The Constitutional Court revoked a lower court decision that had allowed extraction to continue, reaffirming that industrial activity in environmentally sensitive areas requires complete and reliable impact assessments and reinforcing the precautionary principle embedded in Law 64-00.¹¹¹²

International Recourse Is Limited

Options for pursuing accountability outside the Dominican Republic are narrow right now. Leoncia Ramos and other community leaders have said they want to file a complaint with Canada’s Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE), the body created to hear grievances against Canadian mining companies operating abroad. But the ombudsperson position has been vacant since May 20, 2025. As of mid-2026, the office had 24 active complaints in limbo, no complaints had been concluded since the end of 2024, and its online complaint form had been inaccessible due to technical issues since at least July 2025.¹³

In April 2026, the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed concern over Canada’s lack of access to remedies for victims of Canadian mining operations abroad, cited the CORE leadership vacancy, and called for stronger investigative powers, including the ability to compel witnesses and documents.¹³

For families living downstream from Pueblo Viejo, that means the June 2025 settlement is the concrete resolution on offer, and it does not reach them. The next answers will come from the Superior Administrative Court’s rulings on the Naranjo amparos and from whatever the Dominican government does with the census identifying the 369 downstream families still waiting.

1
BNamericas. Barrick Advances Pueblo Viejo Expansion Despite Lawsuits
2
Barrick Mining Corporation. Pueblo Viejo Advances Resettlement Following Successful Resolution Through the Commission
3
Earthworks. Surviving Next to One of the World’s Largest Gold Mines
4
MiningWatch Canada. Communities in Dominican Republic Call on Government for Immediate Relocation Away From Gold Mine
5
The Guardian. Why Are Hundreds of Families Asking to Be Moved Away From This Dominican Republic Goldmine
6
Climate Diplomacy. Pueblo Viejo Mining Conflict, Dominican Republic
7
MiningWatch Canada. Communities at Risk: New Barrick Tailings Dam Sparks Environmental and Human Rights Concerns in the Dominican Republic
8
Earthworks. Communities at Risk: New Barrick Tailings Dam Sparks Environmental and Human Rights Concerns in the Dominican Republic
9
Chambers Practice Guides. Environmental Law 2025 – Dominican Republic: Trends and Developments
10
CSRM, University of Queensland. Analysis of Economic and Social Effects of the Pueblo Viejo Mining Project
11
Tribunal Constitucional de la República Dominicana. Sentencia TC/0458/21
12
Tribunal Constitucional de la República Dominicana. TC-0458-21, Expediente TC-05-2019-0276
13
Mongabay. Canada’s Watchdog Post Vacant as Overseas Mining Complaints Mount