1976-1994: Peasant miners slowly stream into Bulyanhulu to mine the gold found there.September, 1994: Kahama Mining Corporation Limited (KMCL), wholly owned by Vancouver-based Sutton Resources, is granted mining rights to Bulyanhulu.March 19-25, 1995: KMCL resident director Bill Bali writes to Jim Hylands that the miners are conducting “organized resistance” to KMCL at Bulyanhulu. June 16, 1995: Small–scale Miners’ Committee demands approximately 5.6 million US Dollars (USD) in compensation for vacating Bulyanhulu. September 20, 1995: After hearing a plea from Kahama to evict the miners, the High Court at Tabora rules that the case of Bulyanhulu involves “basic constitutional rights and duties.”March 8, 1996: Former Sutton chairman James Sinclair asks Sutton shareholders to remove the board of directors. He claims they are in over their head and need a partner with more experience in Africa.April 11, 1996: The proxy vote to remove the board fails, with 46 per cent siding with Sinclair and voting to remove the board.May 22, 1996: After months of meetings with Canadian and Tanzanian government officials, Kahama Mining Corporation Ltd. withdraws appeal of High Court Judge Mchome’s September, 1995 ruling. May 31, 1996: Sutton Resources issues 23 million USD in stock to finance Bulyanhulu mine.July 30, 1996: Sutton Resources’ Annual General Meeting. July 31, 1996: The Minister of Mines announces in Parliament and on Radio Tanzania that miners have one month to leave Bulyanhulu. General Tumaniel Kiwelu arrives with armed police at Bulyanhulu and states, according to Canadian High Commission, “…all equipment and miners were to depart within 24 hours, and none were to remain within a week.”August 2, 1996: Justice Mchome of the High Court at Tabora issues ex parte injunction to KMCL, Tanzanian police and artisanal miners ordering a halt to evictions. Broadcast on Radio Tanzania.August 7, 1996: The KMCL bulldozer is used to start filling the mine shafts of peasant miners.Late August, 1996: Police are called to Bulyanhulu to investigate allegations that miners were buried alive there. They refuse to dig up pits, saying the exercise would be too costly.November 22, 1996: United Democratic Party commission of inquiry into deaths at Bulyanhulu.Late January 1996: Tanzanian President Mkapa indicates at a public rally in Mbeya that “…those who are spreading rumours [about alleged deaths at Bulyanhulu] should be dealt with according to law.”Spring, 1999: With insurance from the World Bank and the Canadian government’s Export Development Corporation, Toronto-based company Barrick Gold acquires the mines at Bulyanhulu.April, 2002: Mark Bomani, Tanzanian judge, former attorney general and close advisor to Nelson Mandela, calls for an independent inquiry. The call is joined by a international team of researchers, lawyers and NGOs who recently attempted to talk to local residents but were barred by police from visiting Bulyanhulu.
