New allegations of killing and torture by security forces at African gold mine as 30 people join legal claim against the London Bullion Market Association over “clean gold” certification

The allegations by 30 people living near the North Mara mine include claims of killings, gunshot injuries and torture in incidents alleged to have taken place between December 2022 and March 2024, some involving children.

The latest claimants follow the families of two artisanal miners who were killed while prospecting for gold at the mine in 2019 who filed their legal claim in 2022. Both were 23 years old at the time of their deaths. The 30 new cases have been put on hold, known as being “stayed”, pending the outcome of the trial of the two original claimants, which begins in October 2026. 

All the claimants allege that the LBMA, which oversees the London gold market - the largest gold market in the world - is wrongly certifying gold sourced from the mine as untainted by serious human rights abuses.

The LBMA continues to certify gold sourced from North Mara mine as “Good Delivery” gold under its “Responsible Gold” standard. This is despite the mine being associated with a widely reported pattern of systematic human rights abuses over many years. Only “Good Delivery” gold is free to be traded on the London bullion market, with around £723 billion being traded in London each week. 

The claimants argue that as a certifying body, the LBMA owes a duty of care to victims of alleged human rights abuses in supply chains that it certifies, and that the organisation has failed to properly enforce its own policies and guidelines. The claimants allege that the LBMA has effectively greenwashed these systemic human rights abuses from what has been named as one of the deadliest mines in Africa. They further argue that the LBMA’s certification scheme has allowed these human rights abuses to continue for years, leading to the injuries and deaths of the victims. The legal claim seeks to establish that a certification body, like the LBMA, can be held legally responsible for a flawed certification process which causes or contributes to ongoing human rights abuses. 

The Claimants also allege that the LBMA has intervened in how market participants in the global gold market source gold without contributing to serious human rights violations. When newspaper articles in 2019 published allegations about the North Mara Gold Mine, this prompted downstream companies to make enquiries with the LBMA. The Claimants’ case is that the LBMA’s alleged negligent certification is relied upon by downstream companies who would otherwise have to conduct their own due diligence to assure themselves that their supply chains were free from potential human rights abuses. 

The LBMA denies liability, saying that it takes allegations of human rights abuses in the gold industry extremely seriously. The LBMA maintains that the alleged fatalities at the North Mara Mine are unrelated to its role in the London bullion market because it has no role in accrediting mines, no personnel based in Tanzania, and no control or oversight of operations at North Mara Mine. 

North Mara mine is majority-owned by Canadian multinational Barrick Mining Corporation, one of the largest gold mining companies in the world. The company strongly denies all allegations of human rights abuses at North Mara, stating that they are unsubstantiated. All the claims include allegations against the Tanzanian Police Force who guard the mine under an agreement with the company. Barrick strongly denies any responsibility for the actions of the police force. 

There is a long and troubling history of allegations of systemic human rights abuses committed against local residents in and around the mine. Various NGOs have reported on over 100 killings and 304 injuries arising out of incidents of serious violence, such as torture, linked to the mine between 2009 and 2022, as well as numerous allegations of police abuse around the mine. Over the past 15 years, the human rights abuses have been raised in the UK Parliament, the Tanzanian parliament, the United Nations working group on business and human rights and numerous local and international media outlets. 

These allegations have resulted in three legal claims being commenced by Tanzanian nationals against Barrick or its subsidiaries in English or Canadian courts. The first was filed in English courts by Leigh Day in 2013. The second was also filed in English courts in 2020, and the third was filed in Canadian courts in 2022. 

Civil society groups, including RAID, Global Witness and SWISSAID, have repeatedly raised concerns regarding the failure of the LBMA’s Responsible Sourcing programme to curtail human rights abuse and illicit gold in supply chains. In 2020 and 2022, corporate watchdog RAID filed detailed submissions with the LBMA, urging it to stop the trade in tainted gold from the North Mara mine. 

A Pre-Trial Review hearing in the original claim will take place from 10am at the High Court on Friday 17 July ahead of a trial to begin at the High Court on 12 October 2026 which is listed for at least 21 days. 

Daniel Leader, partner at law firm Leigh Day, said: 

“The latest allegations from people living near the North Mara mine of killings, torture and severe gunshot wounds only deepen concerns that human rights abuses of the most heinous kind continue in connection to the mine.

“As the body that certifies gold from the North Mara mine, the LBMA has a duty to ensure that any gold allegedly tainted by such abuses cannot be freely traded in London. 

“Gold from North Mara carries the LBMA's stamp of approval. Our clients say it should never have been given. They allege that the LBMA’s certification scheme effectively covered up these abuses and allowed them to continue. They are asking the High Court to hold the LBMA to account over these claims.” 

Alex Wessely, senior associate at Leigh Day, added: 

“It is shocking that artisanal miners and local residents are allegedly still being killed and seriously injured at the North Mara mine – years after the scrutiny which followed our first two clients’ deaths in 2019. Our clients’ case is simple: gold from North Mara cannot be certified as responsibly sourced while allegations this serious hang over the mine.”