Peter Munk...is the founder and chairman of Barrick Gold Corp...The company acquired some sites as part of an expansion drive, and acquired their problems, too....[In these] places...the Western version of human rights scarcely exists...The North Mara gold mine, in...Tanzania, is...operated by African Barrick Gold, which is 74 per cent owned by Barrick. Last month, local security forces fired on intruders scavenging for gold-laced rocks and killed several of them. Another problem site is in Papua New Guinea; last year, Human Rights Watch reported that some mining personnel were routinely raping local women...Barrick has committed itself to best practices, and regularly opens itself to independent scrutiny...Yet, a small but noisy contingent of activists insists that Barrick is the face of corporate evil...According to them, Barrick is directly responsible for murder, rape and the poisoning of water supplies...The question of whether mineral resources help or hurt developing countries – the “resource curse” − has been argued since the 1950s. But today, the evidence is overwhelmingly positive...